Quotes about army (1446 quotes, page 15)

“That noble Lord is of opinion, not only that we ought to exclude Natives from office, but that even by encouraging them to study the arts and learning of Europe, we are preparing the way for the utter destruction of our power in India. I must leave it to the noble Lord to explain what seems to me a rather singular inconsistency in his opinion. I am at a loss to understand how, while utterly contemning education when it is given to Europeans, he should regard it with dread when it is given to Natives. This training, we are told, when given to a European, makes him a bookworm, a twaddler, a man unfit for the active duties of life; but give the same education to the Hindoo, and it arms him with such an accession of intellectual power, that an established government, with an army of 250,000 men, backed by the whole army and navy of England, are to go down inevitably before its irresistible power.”

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) British historian and Whig politician

Speech in the House of Commons (24 June 1853) https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1853/jun/24/government-of-india-bill-adjourned#column_758
1850s

Loss , Study , Understanding , Learning

“When business executives are making the artistic decisions and don't understand animation, things can go awry. Now they call in all of the authority figures they can find and hire them – the cost has gone up. The picture may or may not get better, but definitely, it gets more cumbersome. It's like trying to turn around an army of tanks, instead of being able to move lightly on your feet or being able to listen to what's going on inside of you – because that's what's telling you what to do. It gets bogged down.”

Don Bluth (1937) American animator

Interview with Don Bluth https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/13/interview-with-don-bluth-part-1-of-3 (June 13, 2000)

Understanding , Business , Animals , Decision

“Commerce creates wealth, and it is the foundation of the great state. Armies are raised and paid for to win, or to protect the countries' trade, or commerce. Ships are constructed, colonies established, inventions encouraged, governments built up, or pulled down, for Commerce. Commerce cuts the way, and all professions, all arts follow.”

Harry Gordon Selfridge (1858–1947) America born English businessman

The Romance of Commerce (1918), Concerning Commerce

Country , Wealth , Art , Relation ships

“Now, when anybody starts talking about this [an all-volunteer force] he immediately shifts language. My army is 'volunteer,' your army is 'professional,' and the enemy's army is 'mercenary.' All these three words mean exactly the same thing. I am a volunteer professor, I am a mercenary professor, and I am a professional professor. And all you people around here are mercenary professional people. And I trust you realize that. It's always a puzzle to me why people should think that the term 'mercenary' somehow has a negative connotation.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

And this is much more broadly based. In fact, I think mercenary motives are among the least unattractive that we have.
The Draft: A Handbook of Facts and Alternatives, Sol Tax, edit., chapter: “Why Not a Voluntary Army?” University of Chicago Press (1967) p. 366, based on the Conference Held at the University of Chicago, December 4-7, 1966

Thinking , People

“Now, when anybody starts talking about this [an all-volunteer force] he immediately shifts language. My army is 'volunteer,' your army is 'professional,' and the enemy's army is 'mercenary.' All these three words mean exactly the same thing. I am a volunteer professor, I am a mercenary professor, and I am a professional professor. And all you people around here are mercenary professional people. And I trust you realize that. It's always a puzzle to me why people should think that the term 'mercenary' somehow has a negative connotation. I remind you of that wonderful quotation of Adam Smith when he said, 'You do not owe your daily bread to the benevolence of the baker, but to his proper regard for his own interest.'”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

And this is much more broadly based. In fact, I think mercenary motives are among the least unattractive that we have.
Source: The Draft: A Handbook of Facts and Alternatives, Sol Tax, edit., chapter: “Recruitment of Military Manpower Solely by Voluntary Means,” chairman: Aristide Zolberg, University of Chicago Press (1967) p. 366, based on the Conference Held at the University of Chicago, December 4-7, 1966, also in Two Lucky People, Milton and Rose Friedman, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 380.

Thinking , People

“The fabric of our prosperity is so artificial, we have raised such a vast edifice of industry and manufacture and wealth within so narrow an area, that the progress of a hostile army through our country would shatter our prosperity with a ruin which centuries would not repair. (Hear, hear.) In proportion to the danger must be our precaution. (Cheers.) We have to protect ourselves.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Source: Defending increased naval expenditure; speech in Bristol (22 April 1889), quoted in The Times (24 April 1889), p. 6

Wealth , Hostility , Country

“The main burden of local defense against local attack, subversion, insurrection or guerrilla warfare must of necessity rest with local forces. Where these forces have the necessary will and capacity to cope with such threats, our intervention is rarely necessary or helpful. Where the will is present and only capacity is lacking, our Military Assistance Program can be of help. But this program, like economic assistance, needs a new emphasis. It cannot be extended without regard to the social, political and military reforms essential to internal respect and stability. The equipment and training provided must be tailored to legitimate local needs and to our own foreign and military policies, not to our supply of military stocks or a local leader's desire for military display. And military assistance can, in addition to its military purposes, make a contribution to economic progress, as do our own Army Engineers.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1961, Speech to Special Joint Session of Congress

Training , Making love , Help

“Those who are willing to work, those who are willing to toil, those who are willing to sacrifice, they shall be the peaceful army that He shall lead to the conquest of the great ideal Society, which they shall build under His direction and make practicable under His inspiration; and they, perhaps more than any other proof, are the sign of the new departure, are the welcome and the heralds of the coming Teacher.”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man 1923, p. 148

Teachers , Making love , Peace , Departure

“Soldiers of the Reich! This day, you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome. More than anything else, your victory will show the whole world that resistance to the power of the German Army is hopeless.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

In a message to German soldiers at the start of the Battle of Kursk, 5 July 1943, as quoted in Kursk by Rupert Matthews
1940s

Dependency , War , Future , Victory

“War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. Armies are not called out to dig trenches, to throw up breastworks, to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time. This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts; but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance, and so would be an economy of life and property in the end. To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

As quoted in Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War (1904) by George Francis Robert Henderson http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12233, Ch. 25 : The Soldier and the Man, p. 481
Q him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow…]]

Time , Success , Business , Country

“Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

As quoted in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1884 - 1888) edited by Robert Underwood Clarence C. Buel, Vol. II, p. 297
Q him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow…]]

Time , Victory , Fight , Making love

“Surrender is forbidden. Sixth Army will hold their positions to the last man and the last round and by their heroic endurance will make an unforgettable contribution toward the establishment of a defensive front and the salvation of the Western world.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

In a message to General Paulus https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/defeat/catastrophe-stalingrad.htm, 24 January 1943
1940s

World , Making love

“The November parties have ruined the German peasantry in fourteen years.
In fourteen years they have created an army of millions of unemployed. The National Government will, with iron determination and unshakable steadfastness of purpose, put through the following plan:
Within four years the German peasant must be rescued from the quagmire into which he has fallen.
Within four years unemployment must be finally overcome. At the same time the conditions necessary for a revival in trade and commerce are provided.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Speech in Berlin http://der-fuehrer.org/reden/english/33-02-01.htm, 1 Febraury 1933
1930s

Time

“The Western nations have four arms-defensive and offensive-the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Church.”

J. C. Kumarappa (1892–1960) Jōsaph Celladurai; b. 01/04/1892; economist; mem., Indian Planning Comm.; protagonist of Gandhian principle…

Shri J. C. Kumarappa. Can Indira Accept this Challenge? Dadoomiyan, S. Vijayanand Bharathi. Vora, 1966. as Quoted in Madhya Pradesh (India)., Goel, S. R., Niyogi, M. B. (1956, [1998 reprint]). Vindicated by time: The Niyogi Committee report on Christian missionary activities.

“We cannot call up an army of peace but we can call up a spiritual army to implore peace, so that the fact that one day of peace is better than years of war will penetrate peoples’ consciences.”

Eduardo Martínez Somalo (1927–2021) cardinal of the Catholic Church

Cardinal Martinez reiterates Pope’s call for peace https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal_martinez_reiterates_popes_call_for_peace (August 9, 2006)

War , Peace , People

“But one no longer wonders when one realizes that in the higher classes there is an unerring instinct of what tends to maintain and of what tends to destroy the organization by virtue of which they enjoy their privileges. The fashionable lady had certainly not reasoned out that if there were no capitalists and no army to defend them, her husband would have no fortune, and she could not have her entertainments and her ball-dresses. And the artist certainly does not argue that he needs the capitalists and the troops to defend them, so that they may buy his pictures. But instinct, replacing reason in this instance, guides them unerringly. And it is precisely this instinct which leads all men, with few exceptions, to support all the religious, political, and economic institutions which are to their advantage.”

Leo Tolstoy The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Source: The Kingdom of God is Within You (1894), Chapter XII, Conclusion—Repent Ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

Support , Fashion , Men

“All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call "chicken shit drilling."”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who's not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready for what's to come.
Speech to the Third Army (1944)

Bitch , Men

“The national character of the three kingdoms was strongly marked in my army. I found the English regiments always in the best humour when we were well supplied with beef; the Irish when we were in the wine countries, and the Scotch when the dollars for pay came up. This looks like an epigram, but I assure you it was a fact, and quite perceptible; but we managed to reconcile all their tempers, and I will venture to say that in our later campaigns, and especially when we crossed the Pyrenees, there never was an army in the world in better spirits, better order, or better discipline. We had mended in discipline every campaign, until at last (smiling) I hope we were pretty near perfect.”

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) British soldier and statesman

Remarks to John Wilson Croker (20 October 1825), quoted in L. J. Jennings (ed.), The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of the Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, LL.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Admiralty from 1809 to 1830, Vol. I (1884), p. 353

Perfection , Country , World , Smile

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist

Time , Idea

“It may be said, therefore, that the military opinion of the world is opposed to those people who cry 'Democratize the army!'”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

and it must be remembered that an army is not a field upon which persons with Utopian ideas may exercise their political theories, but a weapon for the defence of the State.
British Cavalry, The Anglo-Saxon Review, March 1901.
Reproduced in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill, Vol I, Churchill at War, Centenary Edition (1976), Library of Imperial History, p. 60. ISBN 0903988429
Early career years (1898–1929)

Cry , World , People

“Europe needs an army to fight the resource wars of the twenty-first century.”

Jacques Delors (1925) French economist and politician

Variations of this have circulated among Irish and left-wing Eurosceptic groups. Delors explicitly denied making any such statement in 1992 and 1998 in the leadup to Irish referendums on the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties. Commentators have found no evidence for it.
Attributions:
[Facing the threat of Brussels rule at our expense, https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1991/1121/Pg014.html#Ar01400, 30 July 2019, The Irish Times, 21 November 1991, 14, subscription, Anthony, Coughlan]
[Proinsias, de Rossa, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1991-11-29/3/#para_191, 29 November 1991, Dáil Éireann debates, Maastricht Summit: Motion]
[Maastricht and neutrality : Ireland's neutrality and the future of Europe, John, Maguire, Joe, Noonan, 1992, Cork, People First/Meitheal, 19–20]
[Fox, Carol, Gearing up, 25554848, Fortnight, 1994, 334, 11–12: 12, 0141-7762]
[Joe, Higgins, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1997-10-16/24/#para_608, 16 October 1997, Dáil Éireann debates, Amsterdam Treaty: Statements (Resumed)]
Edward, Spalton, 4 July 2004, (Letter) Fashion statement, Daily Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3608033/Fashion-statement.html,
John, Boyd, Campaign Against European Federalism, Europe for Peace Conference, Manchester, 5 March 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20070809083941/http://www.gmdcnd.org.uk/events/europeconference/amC.htm,
[Gibson, Dirk C., Commercial Space Tourism: Impediments to Industrial Development and Strategic Communication Solutions, 2012, Bentham Science Publishers, 9781608052394, 12, https://books.google.ie/books?id=hSkW9TW3omEC&pg=PA12, 21 July 2019]
The European Alliance of EU-critical Movements, EU Counter Summit Statement, London, 7 November 2015 http://teameurope.co/statements.html,
[The financial cost of signing up to PESCO, https://people.ie/news/PN-178.pdf, People's News, People's Movement, Dublin, 178, 20 December 2017]
Morning Star, Macron calls for joint EU army project to step up a gear, 27 August 2018 https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/macron-calls-joint-eu-army-project-step-gear,
Refutations:
The Irish Times, subscription, 12 June 1992, 12, Colm, Boland, 'Interference' by Delors denounced https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1992/0612/Pg007.html#Ar00701,
[30001811, Ireland's Foreign Relations in 1992, Patrick, Keatinge, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 4, 1993, 72 [footnote]]
McKenna's case not a Euromyth, 15 May 1998, Patrick, Smyth, The Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mckenna-s-case-not-a-euromyth-1.152890,
Misattributed

Fight , War

“The army must become one with the people so that they see it as their own army. Such an army will be invincible, and an imperialist power like Japan will be no match for it.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

(zh-CN) 军队须和民众打成一片，使军队在民众眼睛中看成是自己的军队，这个军队便无敌于天下，个把日本帝国主义是不够打的。
1930s, On Protracted Warfare (1938)

People

“War is the life-element of an army.”

Friedrich von Waldersee (1795–1864) Prussian general (1795-1864)

Quoted by Friedrich Engels in Waldersee über die französische Armee, 1861 http://ciml.250x.com/archive/marx_engels/english/mecwsh/mecwsh-18_365.pdf

War , Life

“A society that acquiesces in the presence in its midst of a vast permanent army of unemployed is a society that has ceased to believe in itself.”

G. D. H. Cole (1889–1959) British historian, economist, writer

The Next Ten Years in Economic and Social Policy (1929), p. 46

“But if the assailant, without troubling himself about the existence of the Army awaiting his attack in a defensive position, advances with his main body by another line in pursuit of his object, then he 'passes by the position,' and if he can do this with impunity, and really does it, he will immediately enforce the abandonment of the position, consequently put an end to its usefulness.”

Carl von Clausewitz book On War

Source: On War (1832), Book 6, Chapter 1.

“Gonna get me an army, some tough sons o' bitches
I recruit my army from the orphanages.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Modern Times (2006), Thunder on the Mountain

Bitch

“Our national forces have shown that, while you (People's Liberation Army) may have this power, we have countermeasures.”

Chiu Kuo-cheng (1953) Taiwanese military officer

Chiu Kuo-cheng (2021) cited in " Military not worn out by Chinese forays: minister https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2021/11/30/2003768774" on Taipei Times, 30 November 2021.

People

“Kingship is the army and the army is the kingship, implying the central importance of a powerful army in the plunderous Muslim rule and conquest.”

Ziauddin Barani (1285–1357) Indian Muslim historian and political thinker (1285–1357)

Source: attributed and quoted in M.A. Khan , Islamic Jihad: A legacy of forced conversion, imperialism and slavery (2011)

“American cops are so heavily militarized these days that the only way I can tell the difference between them and the army is the color of their body armor—that, and the army is less trigger-happy.”

Charles Stross The Laundry Files

Source: The Laundry Files, The Labyrinth Index (2018), Chapter 11, “A Dead God Did It and Ran Away” (p. 321)

Happiness , Way , Color

“I would like to remind you that I am not only the -- not only the legitimate president of Ukraine, but I’m also the chief of staff, the commander of the army.”

Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine

Source: "Transcript: Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych on the situation in his country" in The Washington Post https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:DGoGVKRGNYMJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/transcript-ukraines-viktor-yanukovych-on-the-situation-in-his-country/2014/03/11/ffb8fefe-a942-11e3-8599-ce7295b6851c_story.html+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (11 March 2014)

“Having regard to the use which Germany made of her great army, is there anything unjust in scattering that army, disarming it, making it incapable of repeating the injury which it has inflicted upon the world?”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Prime Minister
Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1919/jul/03/territorial-adjustments#S5CV0117P0_19190703_HOC_316 in the House of Commons on the Treaty of Versailles (3 July 1919)

World

“Without the prior pacification of Italy, it could happen that as soon as I leave to succer you, Venice, Florence, Ferrara and Francesco Sforza will ally together, pull all their resources and invite the French to support them… Since I will need to take with me to Germany the army besieging Florence, we need a swift decision by His Holiness in this matter.”

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) Holy Roman Emperor

Support , Decision

“Probably one of the most completely misunderstood of all modern institutions is militarism. While military organizations take their origin in man's lust for war, militarism is something more than a mere war machine. By militarism I mean that institution in which the nation maintains large national armies and navies in time of peace, usually raised on the principle of conscription.”

John Thomas Flynn (1882–1964) American journalist

Source: As We Go Marching (1944), p. 98-99

War , Peace , Time

“[I]f we lay at all too much stress on the need of warlike preparations for quelling the peace-breaker, we find ourselves on a very slippery slope. ... It is all a perpetuation of war, not a planting of peace: a hardening in old error, not a change of heart. One of the most advanced French advocates of the League once said to me that the true guarantee of peace in Europe was a strong French Army and a strong British Navy. The sort of man who thinks that is the sort of man who ought never to be allowed to touch international affairs. Remove that implication. Accept freely, and put into practice, the principles of genuine and equal Disarmament, and then your preparation for Sanctions is perfectly right. To put crushing Sanctions in the hands of two particular Powers, or of an alliance of certain highly armed Powers, would be a crime against humanity.”

Gilbert Murray (1866–1957) Anglo-Australian scholar

1920s, The Ordeal of This Generation: The War, the League and the Future (1929)
Source: "The Felt Need. The Three Principles of the Covenant: Conference, Law, Sanctions", pp. 88-89

Thinking , War , Strong , Change

“Before joining NATO, each country had to establish civilian control of its army. Before joining the European Union, each adopted laws on trade, judiciary, human rights. As a result, they became democracies. This was “democracy promotion” working as it never has before or since.”

Anne Applebaum (1964) journalist

"The myth of Russian humiliation" Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/anne-applebaum-nato-pays-a-heavy-price-for-giving-russia-too-much-credita-true-achievement-under-threat/2014/10/17/5b3a6f2a-5617-11e4-809b-8cc0a295c773_story.html (October 17, 2014)

Democracy , Law , Country

“An army of one answers to none.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)

“The level of any army's professionalism is determined not by the number of those recruited for professional service but by the level of the personnel's training, and its morale and readiness to shed blood for the homeland.”

Mikhail Khodaryonok (1954) Colonel of the Russian Armed Forces

Training

“I have been in the army since I was 17, but I never learned to swear. I think that swearing is good on a collective farm when the bulls do not obey. But with people you can't.”

Dmitry Yazov (1924–2020) Soviet minister of defence

"Дмитрий Язов рассказал "РГ" о жизни маршала на пенсии" https://rg.ru/2013/12/05/marshal.html (4 December 2013)

People , Learning , Thinking

“An army means, first, morale; second, an officer-corps; third, a high command; and, fourth, the human material of the troops.”

Francis Parker Yockey (1917–1960) American writer

The Enemy of Europe (1953)

“The nationality of an army is that of its political leadership, not of its common soldiers or its officer corps.”

Francis Parker Yockey (1917–1960) American writer

The Enemy of Europe (1953)

“We want to get our army involved with the people in productive work and remind it constantly that, without patriotic training, a soldier is only a criminal with power.”

Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) President of Upper Volta

From a speech to the United Nations on 4 October 1984 https://www.marxists.org/archive/sankara/1984/october/04.htm

People , Training

“Our Lord has many weak children in His family, many dull pupils in His school, many raw soldiers in His army, and many lame sheep in His flock. Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.”

J.C. Ryle (1816–1900) Anglican bishop

Vol. III, John XX: 24–31, p. 406
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. John (1865–1873)

School , Family , Children

“Our army does not attack any civilian infrastructure site. We have every capability of knowing what is situated where,”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

"Humiliated Putin scrambles to save face as Sweden and Finland join NATO: Russian leader says countries 'can join whatever they like' - and attacks the bloc's 'imperialist ambitions'" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10967023/Putin-insists-DOESNT-care-Finland-Sweden-join-NATO-denied-bombing-Ukrainian-mall.html, Daily Mail, 29 June 2022
2020s, On conducting a "special military operation" in Ukraine (24 February 2022)

“The surrender of the Belgian Army compelled the British at the shortest notice to cover a flank to the sea more than 30 miles in length. Otherwise all would have been cut off, and all would have shared the fate to which King Leopold had condemned the finest Army his country had ever formed.”

Leopold III of Belgium (1901–1983) King of Belgians

Winston Churchill, We Shall Fight on the Beeches, 4 June 1940

Fate , Country , Sea

“We should be helping our army and our commander-in-chief to win instead of complaining that they're yet to win in so-and-so days.”

Margarita Simonyan (1980) Russian propagandist

"Putin's mouthpiece loses it on live state TV when asked to explain Russian failure - VIDEO" https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1597171/Kremlin-mouthpiece-defends-Putin-as-she-struggles-to-explain-why-Russia-is-struggling-to-w, Express, 18 April 2022

Help

“AN ANGRY ARMY COUNCIL
By ‘J. L’

The Constitution was enacted
Much to de Valera’s pride
However on the Army Council
Its dissatisfaction did not hide

From the published organs
To the gunmen on the run
They spread the message of their leaders
To each and everyone

In West Cork there is Tom Barry
A recent chief-of-staff
Who believes Republican ambitions
Have just been cut in half

Meanwhile we’ve our three Seans
Russell, Mitchell, and MacBride
Dwindling in numbers
It’s too late to pick a side

Russell’s talking to the Germans
MacBride fights in the courts
While Mitchell’s on the racecourse
Good horses he reports

An angry army council
Is fuming to the core
Feeling betrayed by the government
For not doing more”

J.L (1610–1666)

Source: Irish Republican Archives

Horse , Fight , Feeling

Quotes about army page 15

Quotes about army
page 15