Richard Marcinko > Quotes

“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.”
― Richard Marcinko, Rogue Warrior

“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, Rogue Warrior

“The Navy’s caste system has the reputation of being about as rigid as any in the world. The first thing most Navy officer do when they meet you is look at your hands to see whether or not you’re wearing a Naval Academy class ring. If you do, then you’re about of the club. If you don’t, then you’re an untouchable. I was the original untouchable. The only things I wore on my knuckles were scars.”
― Richard Marcinko, Rogue Warrior

“The goddamn Air Force was probably taking a coffee break. That’s how they worked—like union bus-drivers—most of the time. Six or seven hours of flight time (not to exceed this or that altitude, of course), and then it was bye-bye for a didy change, a nap, and a cup of cocoa.”
― Richard Marcinko, Red Cell

“To me, a Purple Heart is not a badge of honor. To be blunt about it, I’ve always considered them enemy marksmanship medals and I’m happy not to have ever “won” one.”
― Richard Marcinko, Red Cell

“We were in the process of gearing up for some new business ventures in Eastern Europe, and I was more than a little interested in finding out about what the new crop of recruits looked like. But before I could ask for a detailed report, Rogue Manor’s early-warning radar began sounding an intruder alert.”
― Richard Marcinko, Dictator's Ransom

“Experience had taught me that warthogs who tough it out are better in combat than your natural gazelles.”
― Richard Marcinko, Red Cell

“we were all driven by something that pushed us further than others dared to go. We were mission oriented and would do what we had to do to achieve it.”
― Richard Marcinko, Red Cell

“Before the Warrior can face the enemy, the Warrior must face himself.” What this means is that the Warrior must have a sort of spiritual and moral gyroscope; an internal mechanism that keeps his soul operating on an even and constant high plane, no matter how adverse the conditions under which he must operate. It is this gyro that makes it possible to endure. You endure, because you know you are a better man than your opponent—purer, more consecrated, and sanctified. You have been blessed by the God of War. You can suffer, tolerate, or undergo anything. It is my unshakable belief that when these two intrinsic values—the total acceptance of death as a natural condition of life, and the total acceptance of an absolute moral code—are combined, the Warrior becomes invincible.”
― Richard Marcinko, Designation Gold Rogue Warrior

“philosophical tenet basic to SEALdom. That concept is: if you set your mind on a goal and your spirit is the spirit of a Warrior, the word impossible DOES NOT EXIST.”
― Richard Marcinko, Echo Platoon

“By the time I left Phnom Penh I could have written a Cambodian cookbook called 50 Ways to Wok Your Dog.”
― Richard Marcinko, Red Cell

“But here is a truth of Warriordom. Pain makes the Warrior stronger, not weaker. It is the anvil on which all true Warriors are forged, whether it is the muscle burn, sleep deprivation, and cold of Hell Week, the Marine Corps crucible, Ranger training, Delta Force selection—or the kind of life-and-death struggle in which I was now engaged. The ordinary person gets hurt—and he retreats to deal with his pain. The Warrior takes in all that pain, all that hurt, all that agony, and metamorphoses it, transmogrifies it, channels it, into pure, unadulterated, kinetic strength, electric energy, and pure will to win.”
― Richard Marcinko, Option Delta: Rogue Warrior

“internal”
― Richard Marcinko, Seal Force Alpha

“Now, the challenge is overtly physical during Hell Week—lots of cold, and sleep deprivation, and exhausting exercise in the surf and the mud. But physical transmogrifies to mental, when, after Hell Week, those tadpoles who made it through realize that they can do about 1,000 percent more than they thought they could. They are beginning to think like Warriors.”
― Richard Marcinko, Designation Gold Rogue Warrior

“NAVY SEAL CODE: 1. Loyalty to Country, Team, and Teammate, 2. Serve with Honor and Integrity on and off the Battlefield, 3. Ready to lead, ready to follow, never quit, 4. Take responsibility for your actions and the actions of your teammates, 5. Excel as warriors through discipline and innovation, 6. Train for war, fight to win, defeat our nation’s enemies, and … 7. Earn your Trident every day. Contents Title Page Copyright Notice Dedication Part One: Curse of the Infidel Epigraph 1.”
― Richard Marcinko, Curse of the Infidel