Top 100 John Ringo Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Peace through superior firepower.”

— John Ringo

2. “There is a saying: There is no such thing as overkill. There is only “Open fire!” and “Reloading!”

— John Ringo

3. “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. “Ode of Remembrance” Lawrence Binyon.”

— John Ringo

4. “Heroes happen because somebody made a mistake.”

— John Ringo

5. “For the warriors of Illium were those most powerful and fell,” Tyler said. “They were those born of winter. Rough translation of a fragment they think is part of the original Iliad cycle.”

— John Ringo

6. “They got the Library of Alexandria. They’re not getting mine.”

— John Ringo

7. “More people have been killed by totalitarian regimes, during times of peace, than in all the wars in the world combined.”

— John Ringo

8. “You find people who just will not follow the logic everywhere. They don’t like the answer so they think wishing makes it so.”

— John Ringo

9. “There is no overkill,” Randall intoned. “There is only open fire and reload.” “Schlock fan, huh?” Faith said. “I knew the world was coming to an end when Schlock didn’t update.”

— John Ringo

10. “One of their unwritten mottoes is ‘We do a lot of things nobody should have to do because they’re things that have to be done.”

— John Ringo

11. “And military personnel deal with all kinds of colors when they’re in. It’s hard to be in the military for any time and not become to an extent color blind.”

— John Ringo

12. “It’s aerodynamic ability is pretty much that of a brick. If the grav drive goes out, which is pretty unlikely given the redundancy, it’s going to have exactly the flight characteristics of a brick. A really, really big brick. A big steel brick. With screaming people in it.”

— John Ringo

13. “Soldiers do not, by and large, create. They destroy. The question always is whether what they are destroying promotes the value of civilization and the advancement of man and specifically Western concepts and philosophies or degrades them.”

— John Ringo

14. “This is the tough part about being in the military. You do not show, by word, action or deed, disrespect to a superior. Ever. Even, or especially, when you think he’s a cowardly fucktard that’s got his head up some Hollywood executive’s ass.” “Oh, you have met him,” Faith said.”

— John Ringo

15. “Humans are supposed to be better than that! I’m embarrassed for my whole damned species.”

— John Ringo

16. “Because it was stupid and it was crazy. But we’re United States Marines. Stupid and crazy is what we do. Oorah.”

— John Ringo

17. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage. “Henry the Fifth.”

— John Ringo

18. “The difference is, I try to understand them. They don’t even try to understand me. They see my motivations as being theirs. I’m rich because I’m greedy. I have power so I must be ambitious for domination.”

— John Ringo

19. “Modern technology and Western culture are the only things keeping women from a life of utter hell. Every society where social order breaks down it’s not necessarily “the poor” who get hit hardest, it’s the women.”

— John Ringo

20. “Do you have a back-up plan?” Steve said. “No, but I’ve got lots of guns and knives and a machete. I’m still looking for a chainsaw.”

— John Ringo

21. “The purpose of a free press, in which I believe believe it or not, is so that people can make rational decisions in a democracy. They’d already perverted the process so bad that was hard, but the point is valid.”

— John Ringo

22. “That spastic series of sentences could only come from a virgin.”

— John Ringo

23. “There is no such thing as overkill,” Faith said. “There is only ‘Open Fire’ and ‘Reloading’! That that never caught on as a bigger meme than LOLCats just says it all about people.”

— John Ringo

24. “There’s no point in watching a 24-hour news cycle if all the “news” is wrong.”

— John Ringo

25. “First law of engineering, Leonidas,” Granadica sent. “If you can’t fix it, you’re not using a big enough hammer.”

— John Ringo

26. “From time to time the weak, the stupid, the useless, must be eliminated to prevent the whole of society from becoming weak, stupid and useless. They were a toxin that must be purged.”

— John Ringo

27. “Hello, my name is Noam and I have the answer to all your problems. It’s all the fault of the evil Americans, the bad conservative ones that fill the airwaves with their lies and are in power and want to oppress the world. There. Now give me money so that I can soothsay again and assuage your guilt.”

— John Ringo

28. “Hold the M87 hand grenade firmly with your strong hand,” Faith said, keeping her hand wrapped around his. “Straighten the cotter pin, then pull, thusly. Remember that once the pin is pulled, Mr. Hand Grenade is no longer your friend, sir.”

— John Ringo

29. “There are no stupid questions,” Hartwell said. “But there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.”

— John Ringo

30. “It actually would help to have a recommendation.” “I’m trying to remember something I read one time. Oh, yeah: This enlisted man works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.” “There you go. See. Was that hard?”

— John Ringo

31. “Trust is vital in a society. If societal trust is too low, people trust no one. Except, maybe, their cousins.”

— John Ringo

32. “I have a rocket launcher, in case you don’t know what that is.” “You have a rocket-propelled grenade launcher,” Sophia said. “Slightly different beast. And if we’re playing one-upmanship, I have a submarine. Alex, you monitoring?”

— John Ringo

33. “Maxim Twenty: If you’re not willing to shell your own position, you’re not willing to win,” Faith said. “Should be a lark. Switch to target point two .”

— John Ringo

34. “Away Team, Guppy. Yes, we can.” “If you would, please,” Sophia radioed. “Nuke ’em from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

— John Ringo

35. “Welcome to Wolf Squadron. The hell with the darkness. Light a Candle.”

— John Ringo

36. “I thought you liked machine guns?” Fontana said. “The whole belt fed is so last week,” Faith said. “I still think it’s a design flaw that you have to let up on the trigger.”

— John Ringo

37. “There is a god somewhere that is angry because we’re combining stuff like Cutty Sark with fifty-year-old Laphroaig,” Paula said. “We are one day going to run afoul of him and he will raise a great storm to punish us.”

— John Ringo

38. “A dependapotamus, ma’am, is a dependent that supplies nothing to the relationship, ma’am,” Evans said, shaking his head.”

— John Ringo

39. “So the starting point and the basis of their liberal wails of anguish always and always is guilt. Guilt, guilt, guilt.”

— John Ringo

40. “It wasn’t you,” Tyler said, reading a report and not looking up. “I’m what her culture, her tribe, has long seen as the bad guy. Wealthy, self-made, conservative. White. Male. I’m a more comprehensible evil – and it is viewed as evil – than the Horvath.”

— John Ringo

41. “Zombies don’t duck,’ ” Hamilton said. “Write that on your damn hand, Craig.”

— John Ringo

42. “I’m raising jailbait in a valley full of horny soldiers; it is never too early to start drinking.”

— John Ringo

43. “You, Miss Smith, have become not their pin-up girl but their heart and soul. They would follow me into hell. Charge any shore, face any fire. I am their Gunny. That’s what Marines do. If you hinted that Satan had a case of ammo you particularly liked, they would charge in without a bucket of water.”

— John Ringo

44. “Oh, I don’t like city folk,” Tyler said. “Don’t care for their politics, don’t care for their attitude, which is more ignorant and provincial than they can possibly understand since they’re ignorant and provincial.”

— John Ringo

45. “Yes, my bug-out bag is packed,” Faith said and grimaced. “‘Where’s your bug-out bag?’ ‘Is your bug-out bag packed?’ ‘What’s your inventory?’ ‘Why did I get the insane parents?”

— John Ringo

46. “The Warrington had apparently fired a missile. “Thank you, Jimmy,” Hartwell said. “You are welcome. Please consider us for all your future weapons of mass destruction needs.”

— John Ringo

47. “As we have now found out, liberty is not about where you can put your sexual organs but about the essential question of whether we, as a people, can make our own decisions.”

— John Ringo

48. “Olga was in full combat gear with a balaclava against bites to the neck. “Let’s check out the rest. You lead.” “You’re such a gentleman,” Olga said. “I’m a firm believer in female equality,” Thomas said. “After you.”

— John Ringo

49. “That is, the more diverse an area was in cultures, the less societal trust there was.”

— John Ringo

50. “You’re already on triple time,” Purcell pointed out. “Got to submit something to Apollo about a ‘welding on the surface in the middle of a battle’ pay bump,” Butch said. “This is not a safety positive environment. We’re on it.”

— John Ringo