Chris Kyle Quotes & Sayings

I began teaching my son how to shoot when he was two, starting with the basics of a BB rifle. My theory is that kids get into trouble because of curiosity - if you don't satisfy it, you're asking for big problems. If you inform them and carefully instruct them on safety when they're young, you avoid a lot of the trouble. My son has learned to respect weapons. I've always told him, if you want to use a gun, come get me. There's nothing I like better than shooting. — Chris Kyle

What I couldn't stand was being cold. Lying out on the beach in the surf, stripped down, freezing my ass off - that was the worst. I'd lock arms with the guys on either side of me and "jackhammer," my body vibrating crazily with the chills. I prayed for someone to pee on me. Everybody did, I'm sure. Urine was about the only warm thing available at that point. If you happen to look out on the surf during a BUD/S class and see a bunch of guys huddled together, it's because somebody out there is pissing and everybody is taking advantage of it. — Chris Kyle

I really don't care what people think of me. I've got my family. I've got my friends. Yes, I have been trained to be a little more aggressive if I need to be, but I don't go around thumping people. — Chris Kyle

Oh, they may be tough individuals, but it takes more than personal toughness to be good leaders. The methods and goals have to contribute to the toughness. — Chris Kyle

Decades of Saddam's rule made what could have been a fairly rich country, due to its oil reserves, into a very poor one. — Chris Kyle

I'm trying to raise the awareness of the troops that, when they deploy and go to war, it's not just them at war - it's also their family. Their family is having to go through all the hardships and the stresses. — Chris Kyle

was too senior to do the bullshit jobs and too junior to do the political jobs. I was just right. — Chris Kyle

Marines - you beat them down and they come back for more. — Chris Kyle

Just like in any relationship, things changed. We changed. We both made mistakes and we both learned a lot. We may love each other differently, but maybe that is a good thing. Maybe it is more forgiving and more mature, or maybe it is just different. — Chris Kyle

Make that peace or war, marriage was our next step together. Happily, we've survived it all. — Chris Kyle

We were both changing and growing in totally separate worlds. He had no firsthand knowledge of mine and I had no firsthand knowledge of his. — Chris Kyle

Maybe war isn't really fun, but I certainly was enjoying it. — Chris Kyle

As it happened, the guy who was the honor man or best in our class was part of our platoon. He never had as many kills as I did, though, at least partly because he was sent to the Philippines for a few months while I spent my time in Iraq. You need skill to be a sniper, but you also need opportunity. And luck. — Chris Kyle

I just want to get the bad guys but if I can't see them, I can't shoot them. — Chris Kyle

I have a master chief that always said, punch and run. — Chris Kyle

Our top command wanted us to achieve 100 percent success, and to do it with 0 casualties. That may sound admirable - who doesn't want to succeed, and who wants anyone to get hurt? But in war those are incompatible and unrealistic. If 100 percent success, 0 casualties are your goal, you're going to conduct very few operations. You will never take any risks, realistic or otherwise. — Chris Kyle

No, the best way to stop a vehicle is to shoot the driver. And that you can do with a number of weapons. — Chris Kyle

shifted our fire higher, moving — Chris Kyle

While at BUD/S - Marcus Luttrell. — Chris Kyle

When I grew up, I only had two dreams. One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses. — Chris Kyle

The pilot himself was a good guy. He didn't act stuck up or high and mighty; you'd never know he was an officer. — Chris Kyle

I'm sure some of the things I went through pale in comparison to what some of the guys went through in World War II and other conflicts. On top of all the shit they went through in Vietnam, they had to come home to a country that spat on them. — Chris Kyle

The media cause more problems than they do good. — Chris Kyle

PEOPLE TELL ME I SAVED HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF people. But I have to tell you: it's not the people you saved that you remember. It's the ones you couldn't save. — Chris Kyle

command master chief, whom I'll call Primo, was another top-notch commander. He didn't give a flying fuck about promotions, about looking good, or covering his butt: he was all about successful missions and getting the job done. And he was a Texan - as you can tell, I'm a little partial - which meant he was a bad-ass. — Chris Kyle

Saddam had buried a bunch of his fighters in the desert. He had them covered with plastic and then tried to hide them. Probably he figured we'd come through like we did in Desert Storm, hit quick and then leave. He was wrong about that. — Chris Kyle

Savage, despicable evil. That's what we were fighting in Iraq. — Chris Kyle

MY DAD WAS A DEACON, and my mom taught Sunday school. I remember a stretch when I was young when we would go to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday evening. Still, we didn't consider ourselves overly religious, just good people who believed in God and were involved in our church. — Chris Kyle

The rules are drawn up by lawyers who are trying to protect the admirals and generals from the politicians; they're not written by people who are worried about the guys on the ground getting shot. — Chris Kyle

WHEN YOU'RE IN A PROFESSION WHERE YOUR JOB IS TO KILL people, you start getting creative about doing it. — Chris Kyle

According to the ROEs I followed in Iraq, if someone came into my house, shot my wife, my kids, and then threw his gun down, I was supposed to NOT shoot him. I was supposed to take him gently into custody. Would you? — Chris Kyle

He wasn't any different after he got shot. He just had a very dry sense of humor. One day a young girl came up to him, looked at his face, and asked, "What happened to you?" He bent down and said, in a very serious voice, "Never run with scissors." Dry, droll, and a heart of gold. You couldn't help but love him. — Chris Kyle

It's funny
sometimes the strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can't really be there for the people they love. I've felt it myself. — Chris Kyle

But I wondered, how would I feel about killing someone? Now I know. It's no big deal. — Chris Kyle

In the end, my story, in Iraq and afterward, is about more than just killing people or even fighting for my country. It's about being a man. And it's about love as well as hate. — Chris Kyle

I thought I should be stronger than was possible. — Chris Kyle

I'd put him in the spot where he got hit. It was my fault he got shot. A hundred kills? Two hundred? More? What did they mean if my brother was dead? — Chris Kyle

No SEAL has ever actually admitted feeling pain since the beginning of Creation. — Chris Kyle

I don't know how high I went, I don't wanna know. Heights are not my favorite thing. It makes my balls go in my throat just thinking about it. — Chris Kyle

I don't shoot people with Korans. I'd like to, but I don't — Chris Kyle

I would love for people to be able to think of me as a guy who stood up for what he believed in and helped make a difference for the vets. — Chris Kyle

In a sense, I had to step away from the job to become the fuller man my family needed me to be. — Chris Kyle

You're in a combat zone one day. You come home, and then you have to readjust, and it takes a few days. We just sit in the house, hang with the family and then things get better. — Chris Kyle

All the time, I was thinking: "This isn't too hard."
And: "I'm going to get attacked any second. — Chris Kyle

Marine, eager but tempered by the fight — Chris Kyle

But real life doesn't travel in a perfect straight line; it doesn't necessarily have that 'all lived happily ever after' bit. You have to work on where you're going. — Chris Kyle

My dad has a story about hearing from me at work one day when I hadn't had a chance to call in a while. He picked up the phone and was surprised to hear my voice. He was even more surprised that I was whispering. "Chris, why is your voice so hushed?" he asked. "I'm on an op, Dad. I don't want them to know where I'm at." "Oh," he answered, a little shaken. — Chris Kyle

But even before I was in the military, I was extremely jumpy when asleep. — Chris Kyle

Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad. When I do go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for but killing any of those people is not one of them. — Chris Kyle

I didn't focus on death, or spend much time thinking about it. It was more like an idea, lurking in the distance. — Chris Kyle

I was coming off months of anxiety for his safety and frustration that he chose to keep going back. I wanted to count on him, but I couldn't. His Team could, and total strangers who happened to be in the military could, but the kids and I certainly could not. — Chris Kyle

As far as I can see it, anyone who has a problem with what guys do over there is incapable of empathy. People want America to have a certain image when we fight. Yet I would guess if someone were shooting at them and they had to hold their family members while they bled out against an enemy who hid behind their children, played dead only to throw a grenade as they got closer, and who had no qualms about sending their toddler to die from a grenade from which they personally pulled the pin ... they would be less concerned with playing nicely. — Chris Kyle

The thing we all had in common wasn't muscle; it was the will to do whatever it takes. — Chris Kyle

I am not a fan of politics. — Chris Kyle

Helping each other out, that's America. — Chris Kyle

I'm a better husband and father than I was a killer. — Chris Kyle

The new Iraqi army had a camp nearby. Those idiots took it in their head to send a few shots our way as well. Every day. We hung a VF panel over our position - an indicator showing we were friendly - and the shots kept coming. We radioed their command. The shots kept coming. We called back and cussed out their command. The shots kept coming. We tried everything to get them to stop, short of calling in a bomb strike. — Chris Kyle

But the essence of what was said is accurate. — Chris Kyle

If he thought investing his time could help a person, he did it. That to me is what a hero is all about. To me, that's as big a hero as you can be. — Chris Kyle

Then there were the groups organized primarily around religious beliefs. These identified themselves as mujahedeen, which basically means "people on jihad" - or murderers in the name of God. They were dedicated to killing Americans and Muslims who didn't believe in the brand of Islam that they believed in. — Chris Kyle

AT ANOTHER LOCATION, WE FOUND BARRELS OF CHEMICAL material that was intended for use as biochemical weapons. Everyone talks about there being no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but they seem to be referring to completed nuclear bombs, not the many deadly chemical weapons or precursors that Saddam had stockpiled. Maybe the reason is that the writing on the barrels showed that the chemicals came from France and Germany, our supposed Western allies. The thing I always wonder about is how much Saddam was able to hide before we actually invaded. We'd given so much warning before we came in, that he surely had time to move and bury tons of material. Where it went, where it will turn up, what it will poison - I think those are pretty good questions that have never been answered. — Chris Kyle

Im not a redneck, Im from Texas. — Chris Kyle

It was always a delicate balance, life and death, comedy and tragedy. — Chris Kyle

After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian. — Chris Kyle

In my experience, Marines are gung ho no matter what. They will all fight to the death. Everyone of them just wants to get out there and kill. They are bad-ass, hard-charging mothers. — Chris Kyle

I loved them. True, I was scared to death getting on the damn thing. But once the pilot took off and we were in the air, I was hooked. It was a tremendous adrenaline rush - you're low and fast. It's awesome. The momentum of the aircraft keeps you in place; you don't even feel any wind buffeting. And hell - if you fall, you'll never feel a thing. — Chris Kyle

That doesn't sound too smart, I thought. If we come in from every direction, we'll be shooting each other. Usually our ambushes are planned in an L-shape to avoid that. I looked at the chief. The chief looked at me. Suddenly, his serious expression gave way to a shit-ass grin. With that, the rest of the platoon bum-rushed me. I hit the floor a second later. They cuffed me to a chair, and then began my kangaroo court. — Chris Kyle

Love John Wayne. I love his cowboy movies especially, which makes sense I guess. Rio Bravo may be my favorite. — Chris Kyle

I'm just trying to get back to normal life. — Chris Kyle

spent a nervous night together. The next morning, the doctors performed a C-section. As they were working, they hit some kind of artery and splashed blood all over the place. I was deathly afraid for my — Chris Kyle

I had to wonder why these people weren't protesting at their congressional offices or in Washington. Protesting the people who were ordered to protect them - let's just say it put a bad taste in my mouth. — Chris Kyle

There's definitely still a lot of hurt from losing my guys or the fact that I got out and I felt like it wasn't my time yet. — Chris Kyle

Of course, it took a while to learn all this. Anytime I messed up, my boss would let me know. Right away he'd cuss me out, tell me I was a worthless piece of shit. But I never got pissed at David. In my mind, I thought, I'm better than that and I'll show you. As it happens, that's exactly the — Chris Kyle

People back home, people who haven't been in war, or at least not that war, sometimes don't seem to understand how the troops in Iraq acted. They're surprised - shocked - to discover we often joked about death, about things we saw. Maybe it seems cruel or inappropriate. Maybe it would be, under different circumstances. But in the context of where we were, it made a lot of sense. We saw terrible things, and lived through terrible things. Part of it was letting off pressure or steam, I'm sure. A way to cope. If you can't make sense of things, you start to look for some other way to deal with them. You laugh because you have to have some emotion, you have to express yourself somehow. — Chris Kyle

Despite what your momma told ya, violence does solve problems. — Chris Kyle

The number is not important to me. I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives. — Chris Kyle

John M. Browning: American Gunmaker. — Chris Kyle

coming from the Iraqis, who were trying — Chris Kyle

He'd already accepted that he was going to die, and he wanted to do it there, not at home from a disease he couldn't fight with a gun or his fists. "It doesn't matter," he told me. "I'll die and you'll find someone else. People die out here all the time. Their wives go on and find someone else. — Chris Kyle

The strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can't really be there for the people they love. — Chris Kyle

I did want to be the top sniper. — Chris Kyle

You're not just going out there, maybe sacrificing your own life. There's also sacrifices still going on at home. You can serve in the military and have a good marriage, but you just need to be aware of it so you can take those steps to take care of it. — Chris Kyle

I am a strong Christian. Not a perfect one - not close. But I strongly believe in God, Jesus, and the Bible. When I die, God is going to hold me accountable for everything I've done on earth. He may hold me back until last and run everybody else through the line, because it will take so long to go over all my sins. "Mr. Kyle, let's go into the backroom. . ." Honestly, I don't know what will really happen on Judgment Day. But what I lean toward is that you know all of your sins, and God knows them all, and shame comes over you at the reality that He knows. I believe the fact that I've accepted Jesus as my savior will be my salvation. But in that backroom or whatever it is when God confronts me with my sins, I do not believe any of the kills I had during the war will be among them. Everyone I shot was evil. I had good cause on every shot. They all deserved to die. — Chris Kyle

Tell the military the end result you want, and you'll get it. But don't try and tell us how to do it. All those rules about when and under what circumstances an enemy combatant could be killed didn't just make our jobs harder, they put our lives in danger. — Chris Kyle

Just because war is hell doesn't mean you can't have a little fun. — Chris Kyle

I hated running, but I was beginning to develop the right mind-set: Do whatever it takes. THIS — Chris Kyle

I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job. But I truly, deeply hated the evil that woman possessed. I hate it to this day. — Chris Kyle

Why do SEALs fight so much? I haven't made a scientific study of it, but I think a lot is owed to pent-up aggression. We're trained to go out and kill people. And then, at the same time, we're also being taught to think of ourselves as invincible bad-asses. — Chris Kyle

Someone once asked me if I had a favorite distance. My answer was easy: the closer the better. — Chris Kyle

I'm just trying to be the me that I am and not all of this other crap. I just want to be the family man, and if somehow I can make the money to get my ranch and get the hell away from everybody else, that would be awesome. — Chris Kyle

Let me say for the record that I believe the credit in Ramadi and in all of Iraq should go to the Army and Marine warriors who fought there as well as the SEALs. It should be fairly proportioned out. Yes, SEALs did a good job, and gave their blood. But as we told the Army and Marine officers and enlisted men we fought beside, we're no better than those men when it comes to courage and worth. — Chris Kyle

If you see anyone from about sixteen to sixty-five and they're male, shoot 'em. Kill every male you see. — Chris Kyle

He got up in front of the room and started telling us that we were doing things all wrong. He told us we should be winning their hearts and minds instead of killing them. — Chris Kyle

You miss them so much when they deploy, and you want them to be home, but then when they are, things aren't perfect. And you feel as if they should be. Depending on the deployment and what I'd been through, I also had emotions ranging from sadness to anxiety to anger. — Chris Kyle

Please don't tell my momma I died in pain, he muttered ... He died right then. He didn't even live long enough to hear my lies about how everything was going to be okay — Chris Kyle

Right away he'd cuss me out, tell me I was a worthless piece of shit. But I never got pissed at David. In my mind, I thought, I'm better than that and I'll show you. As it happens, — Chris Kyle

Obviously, I can't write about most of that; what I saw of the overall battle was like looking at an enormous landscape painting through a tiny straw. W — Chris Kyle

It's not a problem taking out someone who wants your people dead. That's not a problem at all. — Chris Kyle

You forget how beautiful life is, if you don't get a chance to see things like that. — Chris Kyle

Every night someone on the other side of the river would stand up and take a shot at us. We would dutifully call it in and ask for permission to return fire. The answer was always a very distinct, "NO!" Very loud and clear. — Chris Kyle