Smedley Butler Quotes

Quotes about:

• War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

  Smedley Butler

  War, Believe, People

  "War Is A Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  99 Copy quote

• I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

  Smedley Butler

  Wall, Marine, Men

  "War Is a Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  109 Copy quote

• I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

  Smedley Butler

  Brother, Wall, Boys

  "War Is a Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  123 Copy quote

• If only more of today's military personnel would realize that they are being used by the owning elite's as a publicly subsidized capitalist goon squad.

  Smedley Butler

  Military, Squad, Today

  106 Copy quote

• There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights.

  Smedley Butler

  Peace, War, Home

  "War Is A Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  95 Copy quote

• A few profit - and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. You can't end it by disarmament conferences. You can't eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can't wipe it out by resolutions. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war.

  Smedley Butler

  War, Groups, Wipe

  "War Is A Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", 1935.

  133 Copy quote

• War Is A Racket : I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher- ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service

  Smedley Butler

  Military, War, Order

  104 Copy quote

• The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

  Smedley Butler

  America, Soldier, Dollars

  "War Is a Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  95 Copy quote

• I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long... Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents.

  Smedley Butler

  Wall, Marine, Cities

  "War Is a Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  73 Copy quote

• War like any other racket, pays high dividends to the very few. The cost of operations is always transferred to the people who do not profit.

  Smedley Butler

  War, People, Cost

  62 Copy quote

• Only those who would be called upon to risk their lives for their country should have the privilege of voting to determine whether the nation should go to war.

  Smedley Butler

  Country, War, Should Have

  Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell (2015). “War is a Racket!: And Other Essential Reading”, p.65, The Forlorn Press

  53 Copy quote

• My interest is, my one hobby is, maintaining a democracy. If you get these 500,000 soldiers advocating anything smelling of Fascism, I am going to get 500,000 more and lick the hell out of you, and we will have a real war right at home.

  Smedley Butler

  Real, War, Home

  Smedley Butler's reply to Gerald MacGuire, after being asked to organize WWI veterans (for military support) in a fascist-coup of FDR, as related by Butler in testimony before Congress, 1934.

  78 Copy quote

• War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

  Smedley Butler

  Peace, War, Loss

  Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell (2015). “War is a Racket!: And Other Essential Reading”, p.5, The Forlorn Press

  36 Copy quote

• I spent thirty-three years in the Marines, most of my time being a hlgh class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.

  Smedley Butler

  Wall, Marine, Men

  39 Copy quote

• No one told these American soldiers they might be shot down by bullets made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built with US patents.

  Smedley Butler

  Brother, Dark, Soldier

  Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell (2015). “War is a Racket!: And Other Essential Reading”, p.52, The Forlorn Press

  68 Copy quote

• The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits - ah! that is another matter - twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent - the sky is the limit.

  Smedley Butler

  War, Eight, Sky

  Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell (2015). “War is a Racket!: And Other Essential Reading”, p.20, The Forlorn Press

  46 Copy quote

• I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

  Smedley Butler

  War, Believe, Fighting

  Major General Smedley Butler's speech, 1933.

  5 Copy quote

• We must take the profit out of war.

  Smedley Butler

  War, Profit, Racket

  Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell (2015). “War is a Racket!: And Other Essential Reading”, p.71, The Forlorn Press

  71 Copy quote

• I selected an enormous Marine Corps emblem to be tattooed across my chest. It required several sittings and hurt me like the devil, but the finished product was worth the pain. I blazed triumphantly forth, a Marine from throat to waist. The emblem is still with me. Nothing on earth but skinning will remove it.

  Smedley Butler

  Hurt, Pain, Marine

  57 Copy quote

• Why don't those damn oil companies fly their own flags on their personal property-maybe a flag with a gas pump on it.

  Smedley Butler

  Oil, Flags, Pumps

  Smedley D. Butler (2003). “War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier”, Feral House

  38 Copy quote

• War is just a racket... I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else.

  Smedley Butler

  Peace, War, Believe

  "War Is A Racket". Smedley Butler's speech in the U.S. (1933); later published as a book "War Is a Racket", www.businessinsider.com. 1935.

  85 Copy quote

• I had a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotions. l might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three city districts. The Marines operated on three continents.

  Smedley Butler

  Marine, Cities, Honor

  5 Copy quote

• ...The war (WWI) cost your Uncle Sam $52 billion. $39 billion was expended in the actual war period. This expenditure yielded $16 billion in profits.

  Smedley Butler

  Uncles, War, Dark

  10 Copy quote

• I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.

  Smedley Butler

  Boys, Cities, Oil

  Smedley Darlington Butler (2016). “War Is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier”, p.17, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  57 Copy quote

• War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.

  Smedley Butler

  Peace, War, Racket

  Smedley Butler, Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell (2015). “War is a Racket!: And Other Essential Reading”, p.5, The Forlorn Press

  35 Copy quote

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