Melvin Van Peebles Quotes

I haven't, in the 23 years that I have been in the uniformed services of the United States of America, ever violated an order - not one.

Dad was in the British Army and my mom was in the Royal Air Force, so both of my parents believed in discipline.

My heroes are the non-commissioned officers. If I had another life that's what I'd be - a regimental sergeant major or a similar rank. That's where the spirit of the armed forces is.

When I was commissioned in the Air Force, I was committed to the institution for a career.

I grew up in a military family. My father spent 26 years in the Air Force.

In the Air Force, you get some weird orders, but you obey them no matter what.

Being a person of the armed forces is not easy. Performing it is also not easy. There is a sense of discipline and body language that you need to have throughout.

Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy.

I went to a military school between the ages of six and 12 and later into the air force. You learn discipline and strength of character.

I've always been fascinated by the military, the discipline they have and the sacrifices they make to defend the country. It's something I've always been interested in.

Oddly, the military world is one of great sameness. There is an orderly quality to life on an army base, and even the children of the military are brought up with that sense of order and sameness.

In the Marine Corps, everything had a purpose.

I joined the Army in 1965 and served with the 11th Hussars, which I loved. The regiment was so relaxed - a salute was more like a friendly wave.

Generals aren't in the business of commenting on the correctness or incorrectness of the President's decisions. Anybody who thinks he should be able to do that ought to be fired on the spot.

Just being in the military, you're so violent. We got into fights about just random things all the time. I don't think as aggressively as I did when I was in the Marine Corps.

The sergeant is the Army.

It is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander in chief.

I loved the bootcamp and the training. It was the actual Navy and the structure after it that I realized wasn't for me because they're building soldiers. It's a system, and you can't really stick out; you can't be the oddball out in the military.

My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military.

After I graduated from school, I enrolled in the military college, a cadet school. This is the first stage of military training; it instills discipline and various qualities required for military life.

The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office.

But no one told me that when you're in the military, they own you.

I joined the air force. I took to it immediately when I arrived there. I did three years, eight months, and ten days in all, but it took me a year and a half to get disabused of my romantic notions about it.

The American Army has supplied, assigned a very capable man to me, to help me, bring me to military justice. I don't think I need no civilians. All I want to do is clear myself with the American Army.

It is not the business of generals to shoot one another.