Jim Mattis

Be the hunter, not the hunted.

— Jim Mattis

Most people know nobody in the military.

— Jim Mattis

The military can buy our diplomats some time.

— Jim Mattis

No war is over until the enemy says it's over.

— Jim Mattis

In my line of work, the enemy gets a vote.

— Jim Mattis

I don't have the best track record with quotes.

— Jim Mattis

There is only one 'retirement plan' for terrorists.

— Jim Mattis

It's a lot of fun to fight.

— Jim Mattis

What we achieved was a nuclear pause, not a nuclear halt.

— Jim Mattis

I don't think the U.S. military is conservative. It's pragmatic.

— Jim Mattis

I like the enemy knowing there are a few guys like me around.

— Jim Mattis

I have never thought it necessary to patronize the American people.

— Jim Mattis

It's very hard to live with yourself if you don't stick with your moral code.

— Jim Mattis

Iran is not a nation-state; it's a revolutionary cause devoted to mayhem.

— Jim Mattis

Gains achieved at great cost against our enemy in Afghanistan are reversible.

— Jim Mattis

Sometimes there are no good guys. There are no bad guys. It seems like everybody is in the middle.

— Jim Mattis

As commanders and staff officers, we are coaches and sentries for our units: how can we coach anything if we don't know…

— Jim Mattis

Policy makers who have never served in the military continue to use the military to lead social change in this country.

— Jim Mattis

You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know,…

— Jim Mattis

The Iranian regime, in my mind, is the single most enduring threat to stability and peace in the Middle East.

— Jim Mattis

The example that America knows how to govern itself is one of the compelling aspects of our national security.

— Jim Mattis

There are hunters, and there are victims. By your discipline, cunning, obedience, and alertness, you will decide if you are a hunter…

— Jim Mattis

By reading, you learn through others' experiences, generally, a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the…

— Jim Mattis

We all recognize that the Mid-east is dissolving into crises, and we know terrorism did not start with 9-11.

— Jim Mattis

In an interconnected age when opportunistic adversaries can work in tandem to destroy stability and prosperity, our country needs to regain its…

— Jim Mattis

Some people feel affronted when something they thought to be true doesn't happen. If that's the case, then your sense of risk…

— Jim Mattis

There are a lot of self-imposed restrictions by people who somehow believe they have to fall in with a certain military cant.…

— Jim Mattis

Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has…

— Jim Mattis

Perhaps if you are in support functions waiting on the warfighters to spell out the specifics of what you are to do,…

— Jim Mattis

Prime Minister Maliki, released from American restraint, acted on his worst instincts, creating enormous distrust in Iraq's Kurdish population and deeply embittering…

— Jim Mattis

I believe that many of my young guys lived because I didn't waste their lives because I didn't have the vision in…

— Jim Mattis

I can't tell you the number of times I looked down at what was going on on the ground, or I was…

— Jim Mattis

You must reward the kind of behavior that you want.

— Jim Mattis

I don't write policy for my government.

— Jim Mattis

I don't worry about stress. I create it.

— Jim Mattis

Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.

— Jim Mattis

I would storm the gates of Hell if Third Marine Air Wing was overhead.

— Jim Mattis

The Marines have landed, and we now own a piece of Afghanistan.

— Jim Mattis

The most important 6 inches on the battlefield is between your ears.

— Jim Mattis

Read about history, and you become aware that nothing starts with us.

— Jim Mattis