Marcinko Quotes & Sayings

Call it a character flaw
when under attack, I counter attack. Always. — Richard Marcinko

When you fight, you don't fight for abstract values like the flag, or the nation, or democracy. You fight for your buddy. You fight to keep him alive, and he fights to keep you alive, and you go on that way, day after day, battle after battle. And when one of your buddies dies, something inside you dies as well. But you go on. You fight, so that his death isn't meaningless, his sacrifice isn't for nothing. — Richard Marcinko

There is only one kind of failure I cannot tolerate: the failure to risk failure. — Richard Marcinko

Change hurts. It makes people insecure, confused, and angry. People want things to be the same as they've always been, because that makes life easier. But, if you're a leader, you can't let your people hang on to the past. — Richard Marcinko

What drives me? In every mission I'm on, the thing that drives me most is the desire to find my limits-and extend them. — Richard Marcinko

Shoot first and ask questions not at all — Richard Marcinko

Knives are like credit cards; don't leave home without 'em and always carry several — Richard Marcinko

The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat. — Richard Marcinko

The more thou sweateth in training, the less thou bleedeth in combat. — Richard Marcinko

For the past weeks I'd been reacting. That was no way to win. To win, you take the initiative. You instigate the action. You make the opponent react to you. — Richard Marcinko

Popularity is not leadership. — Richard Marcinko

Pain was their body's way of telling them that they'd pushed themselves to their limits - which was exactly where they were supposed to be. — Richard Marcinko

Have character, but don't be a character. — Richard Marcinko

Conventional wisdom is no wisdom at all. Conventional wisdom is taking somebody else's word for the way things are It's the followers of this world who rely on assumption. Not the leaders. — Richard Marcinko