If you want to build a ship, teach the men to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

There is no growth except in the fulfillment of obligations.

The soldier's body becomes a stock of accessories that are not his property.

Only the unknown frightens men. But once a man has faced the unknown, that terror becomes the known.

The one thing that matters is the effort. It continues, whereas the end to be attained is but an illusion of the climber, as he fares on and on from crest to crest; and once the goal is reached it has no meaning.

Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection, despite its ugliness.

The injustice of defeat lies in the fact that its most innocent victims are made to look like heartless accomplices. It is impossible to see behind defeat, the sacrifices, the austere performance of duty, the self-discipline and the vigilance that are there - those things the god of battle does not take account of.