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They don’t have an army. They have exploding underwear. Bill Maher: But I’m Not Wrong, Sky Comedy 2021
Let’s face it. You can’t cut it in the real world. Join the Army. Big Train s1e5, BBC 1999
The Beefeaters. Have you got what it takes? Big Train s2e3, mock Army recruiting advertisement, BBC 2002
God is on everyone’s side ... And, in the last analysis, He is on the side of those with plenty of money and large armies. Jean Anuihl, 1910-1987, French dramatist
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. US Constitution 2nd Amendment
For I am sure when he shall see our army
He’ll drop his heart into the sink of fear
And, fore achievement, offer us his ransom. William Shakespeare, Henry V III v 58-60, Constable to court
Mankind’s first full-time professional army. Each soldier is armed with a gladius. (Humanity & Roman Empire & Army) Mankind: The Story of All of Us III, History Channel 2012
The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force. Thomas Jefferson
We did not raise armies for glory or for conquest. Thomas Jefferson
We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not win. The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape – to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance. Henry Kissinger, Foreign Affairs 48:2, 1969
Instead what they want is to secure a civilian form of government that would be friendly towards the army, and will fulfil the army’s military, religious, political, constitutional ambitions and agenda. Dr Peter Gaunt, Chester College
The army was increasingly mistrustful of parliament ... They published demands for liberty, justice and freedom from tyranny. Great Britons: Cromwell, BBC 2002
However strong your armies may be, you will always need the favour of the inhabitants to the possession of a province. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince ch III
The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms – you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow. ibid.
Above all else, be armed. ibid.
For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against. ibid.
For no amount of arms and armies can help stabilize those governments which are unable or unwilling to achieve social and economic reform and development. Military pacts cannot help nations whose social injustice and economic chaos invite insurgency and penetration and subversion. John F Kennedy, speech Joint session of Congress May 1961
I have brought you an army, father. Would you have me send it back? The Borgias: Relics s3e6, Cesare, Showtime 2013
Colonel: Come in. What do you want?
Private: I’d like to leave the army please, sir.
Colonel: Good heavens, man. Why?
Private: It’s dangerous. Monty Python’s Flying Circus s1e8, BBC 1969
Don’t stand there gawping like you’ve never seen the hand of God before. Now, today we’re going to do marching up and down the square. That is unless any of you have got anything better to do. Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life 1983 starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gillian & Eric Idle & Terry Jones & Michael Palin & Neil Innes & Patricia Quinn et al, director Terry Jones, Sergeant-Major to soldiers
Democracy and humanitarianism have always been trademarks of the British army. ibid. commentary
Doctor: Well let’s have a look at this one leg of yours then eh. Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. Well this is nothing to worry about. There’s a lot of it about. Probably a virus. ibid.
Ours is composed of the scum of the earth – the mere scum of the earth. Duke of Wellington
They took me to an MO – Medical Officer. And he said, ‘Take your clothes off.’ I said, ‘Well shouldn’t you take me out to dinner or something first?’ Spike Milligan, Des O’Connor Show
The way the pikes had clobbered the mounted knights [of the Dukes of Burgundy] changed the battle plans of every military commander in Europe. For the next forty years the pike was it. And the armies got bigger because they were cheaper. And then on April 28th 1503 ... a new weapon had arrived. It was the gun. James Burke, Connections s1e8: Eat, Drink & Be Merry, BBC 1978
And suddenly feeding huge armies was the big new problem, and one that almost blew it for Napoleon at a little known spot in northern Italy. ibid.
No-one could be considered powerful unless he could afford to pay for his own army. Crassus
Armies are like plants, immobile, firm-rooted, nourished through long stems to the head. We might be a vapour, blowing where we listed. Our kingdoms lay in each man’s mind; and as we wanted nothing material to live on, so we might offer nothing material to the killing. It seemed a regular soldier might be helpless without a target, owning only what he sat on, and subjugating only what, by order, he could poke his rifle at. T E Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Armies do not exist for peace. They exist only for triumphant exertion in war. Adolf Hitler
An army marches on its stomach. Napoleon Bonaparte
Plans to put more part time soldiers on the front line. And what happens when they return to Civvy Street. Tonight: New Model Army, ITV 2013
Training alongside Territorial Army recruits. ibid.
You can get five TA soldiers for the price of one full-time regular soldier. ibid.
A massive Territorial Army recruitment drive is under way. ibid.
‘Your training was deficient. You should not have been deployed without further training.’ ibid. Assistant Judge Advocate General Paul Camp
A doubling in the number of reserves could see a lot more Post Traumatic Stress but the government says it is addressing the issue. ibid.
You will never find scientists leading armies into battle. You just won’t. Especially not astrophysicists – we see the biggest picture there is. We understand how small we are in the cosmos. We understand how fragile and temporary our existence is here on Earth. Neil deGrasse Tyson
The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight. A J P Taylor
Occupying armies have responsibilities, not rights. Their primary responsibility is to withdraw as quickly and expeditiously as possible, in a manner determined by the occupied population. Noam Chomsky
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. George Washington
An Army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every change in the rules which impairs the principle weakens the army. William Tecumseh Sherman