War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth.

In their eyes as they pass is not hatred, not excitement, not despair, not the tonic of their victory - there is just the simple expression of being here as though they had been here doing this forever, and nothing else.

Thoughts are wonderful things, that they can bring two people, so far apart, into harmony and understanding for even a little while.

Marines have a cynical approach to war. They believe in three things; liberty, payday and that when two Marines are together in a fight, one is being wasted. Being a minority group militarily, they are proud and sensitive in their dealings with other military organizations. A Marine's concept of a perfect battle is to have other Marines on the right and left flanks, Marine aircraft overhead and Marine artillery and naval gunfire backing them up.

Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive.

There is no sense in the struggle, but there is no choice but to struggle.

[I]nstead of the usual "Why can't we make movies more like real life?" I think a more pertinent question is "Why can't real life be more like the movies?"