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The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and unarmed. It is the very essence and reason for his being. When he violates this sacred trust, he not only profanes his entire cult but threatens the very fabric of international society. The traditions of fighting men are long and honorable. They are based upon the noblest of human traits—sacrifice.

— Douglas MacArthur

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Source, in full

From a 1946 statement by MacArthur confirming the death sentence imposed by a U. S. military commission on Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita, as quoted in MacArthur's Reminscences (McGraw-Hill, 1964) p. 295. Also used as the epigraph to Telford Taylor's Nuremberg and Vietnam: An American Tragedy (New York: Bantam, 1970).

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War

More quotes by Douglas MacArthur

Could I have but a line a century hence crediting a contribution to the advance of peace, I would gladly yield every honor which has been accorded me in war.

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In war there is no substitute for victory.

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I shall set my course to the end that no man need fear to speak the truth.

No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Douglas MacArthur (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.