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Top 20 Robert Leckie Quotes (2026 Update)

Robert Leckie Quote: “Every morning or afternoon, whenever you want to write, you have to go up and shoot that old bear under your desk between the eyes.”

1. “Every morning or afternoon, whenever you want to write, you have to go up and shoot that old bear under your desk between the eyes.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “We have met the enemy and have learned nothing more about him. I have, however, learned some things about myself. There are things men can do to one another that are sobering to the soul. It is one thing to reconcile these things with God, but another to square it with yourself.”

2. “We have met the enemy and have learned nothing more about him. I have, however, learned some things about myself. There are things men can do to one another that are sobering to the soul. It is one thing to reconcile these things with God, but another to square it with yourself.”

— Robert Leckie

3. “It is an American weakness. The success becomes the sage. Scientists counsel on civil liberty; comedians and actresses lead political rallies; athletes tell us what brand of cigarette to smoke.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Keep vaunting head over heart, and soon the head will arrive at the complete folly of any kind of fight and meekly surrender the treasure to the first bandit with enough heart to demand it.”

4. “Keep vaunting head over heart, and soon the head will arrive at the complete folly of any kind of fight and meekly surrender the treasure to the first bandit with enough heart to demand it.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Keep it up, America, keep telling your youth that mud and danger are fit only for intellectual pigs. Keep on saying that only the stupid are fit to sacrifice, that America must be defended by the low-brow and enjoyed by the high-brow. Keep vaunting head over heart, and soon the head will arrive at the complete folly of any kind of fight and meekly surrender the treasure to the first bandit with enough heart to demand it.”

5. “Keep it up, America, keep telling your youth that mud and danger are fit only for intellectual pigs. Keep on saying that only the stupid are fit to sacrifice, that America must be defended by the low-brow and enjoyed by the high-brow. Keep vaunting head over heart, and soon the head will arrive at the complete folly of any kind of fight and meekly surrender the treasure to the first bandit with enough heart to demand it.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “We advanced on the enemy with all the stealth of a circus.”

6. “We advanced on the enemy with all the stealth of a circus.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Because it is gone you cannot say it will not return; even though you may say it has never yet returned-you cannot say that it will not. It is blasphemy to say a bit of metal has destroyed life, just as it is presumptuous to say that because life has disappeared it has been destroyed. I stood among the heaps of the dead and I knew-no, I felt that death is only a sound we make to signify the Thing we do not know.”

7. “Because it is gone you cannot say it will not return; even though you may say it has never yet returned-you cannot say that it will not. It is blasphemy to say a bit of metal has destroyed life, just as it is presumptuous to say that because life has disappeared it has been destroyed. I stood among the heaps of the dead and I knew-no, I felt that death is only a sound we make to signify the Thing we do not know.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “It is glorious to drink the wine of the enemy.”

8. “It is glorious to drink the wine of the enemy.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “All the logic seemed to be on our side. The Marine Corps seemed a madness.”

9. “All the logic seemed to be on our side. The Marine Corps seemed a madness.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Our muddy machine gun pits were transformed into Courage Clubs when bombs fell or Japanese warships pounded us from the sea. There was protocol to be observed, too, and it was natural that the poor fellow who might break into momentary terror should cause pained silence and embarrassed coughs. Everyone looked the other way, like millionaires confronted by the horrifying sight of a club member borrowing five dollars from the waiter.”

10. “Our muddy machine gun pits were transformed into Courage Clubs when bombs fell or Japanese warships pounded us from the sea. There was protocol to be observed, too, and it was natural that the poor fellow who might break into momentary terror should cause pained silence and embarrassed coughs. Everyone looked the other way, like millionaires confronted by the horrifying sight of a club member borrowing five dollars from the waiter.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Only rear echelons with plenty of fat on them can afford such rich diseases, like an epicure with his gout.”

11. “Only rear echelons with plenty of fat on them can afford such rich diseases, like an epicure with his gout.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Smell, the sense which somehow seems a joke, is the one most susceptible to outrage. It will give you no rest. One can close one’s eyes to ugliness or shield the ears from sound; but from a powerful smell there is no recourse but flight.”

12. “Smell, the sense which somehow seems a joke, is the one most susceptible to outrage. It will give you no rest. One can close one’s eyes to ugliness or shield the ears from sound; but from a powerful smell there is no recourse but flight.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “And when he gets to Heaven To St. Peter he will tell: One more Marine reporting, sir – I’ve served my time in Hell.”

13. “And when he gets to Heaven To St. Peter he will tell: One more Marine reporting, sir – I’ve served my time in Hell.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “But I could not answer the first question, for I did not know what I had gotten out of it, or even that I was supposed to profit. Now I know. For myself, a memory and the strength of ordeal sustained; for my son, a priceless heritage; for my country, sacrifice.”

14. “But I could not answer the first question, for I did not know what I had gotten out of it, or even that I was supposed to profit. Now I know. For myself, a memory and the strength of ordeal sustained; for my son, a priceless heritage; for my country, sacrifice.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Now, to pity the enemy either is madness or it is a sign of strength. I think that with the First Marine Division on New Britain it was a sign of strength.”

15. “Now, to pity the enemy either is madness or it is a sign of strength. I think that with the First Marine Division on New Britain it was a sign of strength.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “Insanity had been my foremost fear since the moment I had vaulted over the side of the Higgins Boat on Guadalcanal and seen those spiky fronds swinging overhead. To be killed – even to be taken prisoner by a cruel and vindictive foe – seemed preferable to madness.”

16. “Insanity had been my foremost fear since the moment I had vaulted over the side of the Higgins Boat on Guadalcanal and seen those spiky fronds swinging overhead. To be killed – even to be taken prisoner by a cruel and vindictive foe – seemed preferable to madness.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “We ate a bowl of rice for breakfast and had the same for supper. Once a marine complained of worms in the rice to one of our two doctors. “They’re dead,” he laughed. “They can’t hurt you. Eat them, and be glad you have fresh meat.”

17. “We ate a bowl of rice for breakfast and had the same for supper. Once a marine complained of worms in the rice to one of our two doctors. “They’re dead,” he laughed. “They can’t hurt you. Eat them, and be glad you have fresh meat.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “The mystery of the universe had once inhabited these lolling lumps, had given each an identity, a way of walking, perhaps a special habit of address or a way with words or a knack of putting color on canvas. They had been so different, then. Now they were nothing, heaps of nothing. Can a bullet or a mortar fragment do this? Does this force, this mystery, I mean this soul – does this spill out on the ground along with the blood? No. It is somewhere, I know it.”

18. “The mystery of the universe had once inhabited these lolling lumps, had given each an identity, a way of walking, perhaps a special habit of address or a way with words or a knack of putting color on canvas. They had been so different, then. Now they were nothing, heaps of nothing. Can a bullet or a mortar fragment do this? Does this force, this mystery, I mean this soul – does this spill out on the ground along with the blood? No. It is somewhere, I know it.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “I stood among the heaps of the dead and I knew – no, I felt that death is only a sound we make to signify the Thing we do not know.”

19. “I stood among the heaps of the dead and I knew – no, I felt that death is only a sound we make to signify the Thing we do not know.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “A soldier’s pack is like a woman’s purse: it is filled with his personality. I have saddened to see the mementos in the packs of dead Japanese. They had strong family ties, these smooth-faced men, and their packs were full of their families.”

20. “A soldier’s pack is like a woman’s purse: it is filled with his personality. I have saddened to see the mementos in the packs of dead Japanese. They had strong family ties, these smooth-faced men, and their packs were full of their families.”

— Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie Quote: “There was this verse, which I have seen countless times, before and since, the direct and unpolished cry of a marine’s sardonic heart: And when he gets to Heaven To St. Peter he will tell: One more Marine reporting, sir – I’ve served my time in Hell.”

21. “There was this verse, which I have seen countless times, before and since, the direct and unpolished cry of a marine’s sardonic heart: And when he gets to Heaven To St. Peter he will tell: One more Marine reporting, sir – I’ve served my time in Hell.”

— Robert Leckie

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