Marcus Luttrell Quotes & Sayings

Danny Dietz died right there in my arms. I don't know how quickly hearts break, but that nearly broke mine ... I had to leave him or else die out here with him. But I knew one thing was certain. I still had my rifle and I was not alone, and neither was Danny, a devout Roman Catholic. I left him with God. — Marcus Luttrell

You can't kill bad guys all day long because others will take their place. — Marcus Luttrell

Because above all, we're patriots. We will willingly carry the fight to whoever may be the enemies of the United States of America. We're your front line, unafraid and ready to go in against al Qaeda, jihadists, terrorists, or whoever the hell else threatens this nation. — Marcus Luttrell

And I am left feeling that no matter how much the drip-drip-drip of hostility toward us is perpetuated by the liberal press, the American people simply do not believe it. They are rightly proud of the armed forces of the United States of America. They innately understand what we do. And no amount of poison about our alleged brutality, disregard of the Geneva Convention, and abuse of the human rights of terrorists is going to change what most people think ... Some members of the media might think they can brainwash the public any time they like, but I know they can't. Not here. Not in the United States of America. — Marcus Luttrell

Nothing just happens. You always have to strive. - Marcus Luttrell — Marcus Luttrell

Every Navy SEAL is supremely confident, because we're indoctrinated with a belief in victory at all costs; a conviction that no earthly force can withstand our thunderous assault on the battlefield. We're invincible, right? Unstoppable. That's what I believed to the depths of my spirit on the day they pinned the Trident on my chest. I still believe it. And I always will. — Marcus Luttrell

Ashington, where the human rights of terrorists are often given high priority. And I am certain liberal politicians would defend their position to the death. Because everyone knows liberals have never been wrong about anything. You can ask them. Anytime. — Marcus Luttrell

Same blood, different mud. — Marcus Luttrell

You seldom see it in the papers. Once in a while some guys get put up for decorations and a ceremony takes place somewhere. You see them in dress uniforms, standing proud. But that's politics and theater. You should see them as I have, downrange, in action. They're amazing to watch, risking their lives to serve their country. I don't like to talk about valor awards. I don't think it's useful to think about them. We just go to work, and it's the work itself that tells us who we are. Our pride is no less without the fanfare. — Marcus Luttrell

There's nothing heroic about suicide bombers. They're mostly just dumb, brainwashed kids, stoned out of their minds. — Marcus Luttrell

I'm trained in weapons, demolition, and unarmed combat. I'm a sniper, and I'm the platoon medic. But most of all, I'm an American. — Marcus Luttrell

American Sniper, — Marcus Luttrell

I had no answer to those questions, only hope. With absolutely no one to turn to, no Mikey, no Axe, no Danny, I have to face the final battle by myself, maybe lonely, maybe desolate, maybe against formidable odds. But I was not giving up.
I had only one Teammate. And He moved, as ever, in mysterious ways. But I was a Christian, and He had somehow saved me from a thousand AK-47 bullets on that day. No one had shot me, which was well nigh beyond all comprehension. — Marcus Luttrell

Eternal Father, faithful friend, Be quick to answer those we send In brotherhood and urgent trust, On hidden missions dangerous, O hear us when we cry to Thee, For SEALs in air, on land, and sea. — Marcus Luttrell

La Posta, eighty miles east of San Diego. That's where they taught us stealth, camouflage, and patrolling, the essential field craft of the commando. — Marcus Luttrell

They're not their rules. They're our rules, the rules of the Western countries, the civilized side of the world. And every terrorist knows how to manipulate them in their own favor. — Marcus Luttrell

We were sent to Afghanistan to carry out hugely dangerous missions. But we were also told that we could not shoot that camel drover before he blew up all of us, because he might be an unarmed civilian just taking his dynamite for a walk. — Marcus Luttrell

Don't let your thoughts run away with you, don't start planning to bail out because you're worried about the future and how much you can take. Don't look ahead to the pain. Just get through the day, — Marcus Luttrell

I looked Mikey right in the eye, and I said, "We gotta let 'em go." It was the stupidest, most southern-fried, lamebrained decision I ever made in my life. I must have been out of my mind. I had actually cast a vote which I knew could sign our death warrant. I'd turned into a fucking liberal, a half-assed, no-logic nitwit, all heart, no brain, and the judgment of a jackrabbit. — Marcus Luttrell

You don't get people to follow you by demanding it with your words. You do it by commanding it with your example. — Marcus Luttrell

And if the liberal media and political community cannot accept that sometimes the wrong people get killed in war, then I can only suggest they first grow up and then serve a short stint up in the Hindu Kush. — Marcus Luttrell

The first murmurings from the liberal part of the U.S.A. that we were somehow in the wrong, brutal killers, bullying other countries; that we who put our lives on the line for our nation at the behest of our government should somehow be charged with murder for shooting our enemy. Its an insidious progression, the criticisms of the U.S. Armed Forces from politicians and from the liberal media, which knows nothing of combat, nothing of our training, and nothing of the mortal dangers we face out there on the front line. — Marcus Luttrell

You always have to strive — Marcus Luttrell

How do you get right with the idea, at the age of thirty-one, that the career you've pursued with every fiber of your being has come suddenly to an end? — Marcus Luttrell

we train for war and fight to win. — Marcus Luttrell

In death as in life, we stand together, always a family, always a team. The brotherhood never dies. — Marcus Luttrell

In the military, if we don't know something, we say we don't know and proceed to shut up until we do. Some highly paid charlatans in the media think it's absolutely fine to take a wild guess at the truth and then tell a couple of million people it's cast-iron fact, just in case they might be right ... I hope they're proud of themselves, because they nearly broke my mom's heart ... — Marcus Luttrell

years in a U.S. civilian jail — Marcus Luttrell

Bottom line is that there's bad people everywhere. And every now and again, we are going to have to step to them to make sure that we preserve our way of life. — Marcus Luttrell

The Warrior Elite, — Marcus Luttrell

There's a storm inside of us. I've heard many team guys speak of this. A burning. A river. A drive. — Marcus Luttrell

There's a storm inside of us, a burning river, a drive. You push yourself further than anyone could think possible. You are never out of the fight. — Marcus Luttrell

Every situation I have ever been in I have been trained for, and I dealt with it to the best of my abilities. — Marcus Luttrell

These men of the special forces have had other optinos in their lives, other paths, easier paths they could have taken. But they took the hardest path, that narrow causeway that is not for the sunshine patriot. They took the one for the supreme patriot, the one that may require them to lay down their lives for the United States of America. The one that is suitable only for those who want to serve their country so bad, nothing else matters. That's probably not fashionable in our celebrity-obsessed modern world. But special forces guys don't give a damn about that either ... They are of course aware of a higher calling, because they are sworn to defend this country and to fight its battles. — Marcus Luttrell

I had only one Teammate. And He moved, as ever, in mysterious ways. — Marcus Luttrell

Fear is a force that sharpens your senses. Being afraid is a state of paralysis in which you can't do anything. — Marcus Luttrell

Shipmates might depend. That word: teamwork. It — Marcus Luttrell

He closed by telling us the real battle is won in the mind. It's won by guys who understand their areas of weakness, who sit and think about it, plotting and planning to improve. Attending to the detail. Work on their weaknesses and overcome them. Because they can. — Marcus Luttrell

In times of uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our Nation's call; a common man with uncommon desire to succeed. Forged by adversity, he stands alongside America's finest special operations forces to serve his country and the American people, and to protect their way of life. I am that man. — Marcus Luttrell

Here in Iraq ... we found a country of good people looking after their kids, starting schools, improving their prospects in spite of terrible obstacles. — Marcus Luttrell

There is no other way to beat a terrorist. You must fight like him, or he will surely kill you. — Marcus Luttrell

There's nothing glorious about war. There's nothing glorious about holding your friends in your arms and watching them die. There's nothing glorious about having to leave your home for 6 to 8 months while your family's back here and you're away. — Marcus Luttrell

I spend most of my time at the ranch with my family, and enjoy life - watch the sun come up, watch it go down, thank God for another day, and just be happy. — Marcus Luttrell

I got my service dog when I was medically retired out of the military, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I wish every medically retired serviceman could have a service dog. He's amazing. He's my best bud. I go everywhere and anywhere with him. — Marcus Luttrell

I tried to get a hold of myself. But again in my mind I heard that terrible, terrible scream, the same one that awakens me, bullying its way into my solitary dreams, night after night, the confirmation of guilt. The endless guilt of the survivor. 'Help me, Marcus! Please help me!' It was a desperate appeal in the mountains of a foreign land. It was a scream cried out in the echoing high canyons of one of the loneliest places on earth. It was the nearly unrecognizable cry of a mortally wounded creature. And it was a plea I could not answer. I can't forget it. Because it was made by one of the finest people I ever met, a man who happened to be my best friend. — Marcus Luttrell

To break a Navy Seal, you have to kill us. That's why we can make it into our training. That's why we can call ourselves Seals because the only way your gonna break us is to kill us. — Marcus Luttrell

We aren't heroes out there in the military. We're just Patriots. — Marcus Luttrell

We all have our crosses to bear. We carry them heavily, out of love for our brothers in arms. But sometimes you have to let go of the idea that anyone down here is in control. — Marcus Luttrell

My God had not spoken again. But neighter had He forsaken me. I knew that. For damned sure, I knew that — Marcus Luttrell

Americans should never forget that the founders of this country, like all who have served her in uniform, were willing to die defending everything its flag represents. It's so easy to get lost in the controversies that divide us. But I believe, no matter what our race, religion, or beliefs may be, that Americans should be able to come together to keep our country rooted in what made it great: a land of opportunity, a place where people can make something of themselves, limited only by their imaginations and willingness to work hard; a country where we can all come together, whatever our differences, for the greater good; a country of hands up, not handouts, where we try to live by the meaning of the words "Love thy neighbor," and put as much effort into helping others as we do helping ourselves. By doing those things, we can continue to live up to the idea of "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. — Marcus Luttrell

And he simply would not tolerate any other high-ranking officer, commissioned or noncommissioned, reaming out one of his guys. He — Marcus Luttrell

A big, robust guy with blond hair and a relatively insolent grin, Shane was supersmart. I never had to tell him anything. He knew what to do at all times. — Marcus Luttrell

I died upon that mountain. There is no question. A part of me will forever be upon that mountain. Dead. That's my brothers died. If there's a part of me that live, because of my brothers. Because of them I am still alive, and I can never forget, that no matter how much it hurts, how dark it gets, or how far you fall. You are never out of the fight. — Marcus Luttrell

Wraps that up then, right? Praise Allah and pass the high explosive. — Marcus Luttrell

We've trained and trained for a reason: to be better at the craft of war than our enemy, to use our skill to perform the mission, and to accept the risks. As American warriors, it's our obligation to protect the innocent. And that means, sometimes, that we're the ones who need to be put on the disadvantaged side of the threat cycle. — Marcus Luttrell

Colleagues we were indeed fit and qualified enough to attempt BUD/S training. — Marcus Luttrell

Helpless, tortured, shot, blown up, my best buddies all dead, and all because we were afraid of the liberals back home, afraid to do what was necessary to save our own lives. Afraid of American civilian lawyers. I have only one piece of advice for what it's worth: If you don't want to get into a war where things go wrong, where the wrong people sometimes get killed, where innocent people sometimes have to die, then stay the hell out of it in the first place. — Marcus Luttrell

Ernest Hemingway once wrote that "There is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter." Let — Marcus Luttrell

Axe was a quiet man, six foot four, with piercing blue eyes and curly hair. He was smart and the best Trivial Pursuit player I ever saw. I loved talking to him because of how much he knew. He would come out with answers that would have defied the learning of a Harvard professor. — Marcus Luttrell

The SEALs place a premium on brute strength, but there's an even bigger premium on speed. That's speed through the water, speed over the ground, and speed of thought. There's no prizes for gleaming a set of well-oiled muscles in Coronado. Bulk just makes you slow, especially in soft sand, and that's what we had to tackle every day of our lives, mile after mile. — Marcus Luttrell

I will never quit. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down i will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my enemies and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight. — Marcus Luttrell

We believe there are very few of the world's problems we could not solve with high explosive or a well-aimed bullet. — Marcus Luttrell

These are the problems of the modern U.S. combat soldier, the constant worry about overstepping the mark and an American media that delights in trying to knock us down. Which we have done nothing to deserve. Except, perhaps, love our country and everything it stands for. — Marcus Luttrell

Remember the philosophy of the U.S. Navy SEALs: I will never quit ... My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates ... I am never out of the fight. — Marcus Luttrell

And when they saw the somewhat extravagant tattoo I have on my back - a half of a SEAL Trident (Morgan has the other half) - they damn near fainted. — Marcus Luttrell

With 300 Marines, you could probably take over Iraq if you wanted to and get rid of ISIS completely. Make no mistake about it, Marines are war fighters. I mean they are really good at what they do. The only time they are not good at what they do is when someone puts the shackles on them, — Marcus Luttrell

Every bone in my body was crying out for rest, but I knew if I stopped, and perhaps slept, I would die. I had to keep going. It was strange, but the thirst which was killing me was also the driving force keeping me on this long, desperate march. — Marcus Luttrell

It's been said that only the very rich understand the difference between themselves and the poor, and only the truly brilliant understand the difference between themselves and the relatively dumb. — Marcus Luttrell