Eric Greitens Quotes

“As warriors, as humanitarians, they've taught me that without courage, compassion falters, and that without compassion, courage has no direction.”

— Eric Greitens

“A good peace, a solid peace, a peace in which communities can flourish, can only be built when we ask ourselves and each other to be more than just good, and better than just strong. And a good life, a meaningful life, a life in which we can enjoy the world and live with purpose, can only be built if we do more than live for ourselves.”

— Eric Greitens

“I begin with humility, I act with humility, I end with humility. Humility leads to clarity. Humility leads to an open mind and a forgiving heart. With an open mind and a forgiving heart, I see every person as superior to me in some way; with every person as my teacher, I grow in wisdom. As I grow in wisdom, humility becomes ever more my guide. I begin with humility, I act with humility, I end with humility.”

— Eric Greitens

If people can live through genocide and retain compassion, if they can take strength in pain, if they are able, still, to laugh, then certainly we can learn something from them.

— Eric Greitens

Alone, human beings can feel hunger. Alone, we can feel cold. Alone, we can feel pain. To feel poor, however, is something we do only in comparison to others.

— Eric Greitens

“Yet the basic fact remains: we live in a world marked by violence, and if we want to protect others, we sometimes have to be willing to fight.”

— Eric Greitens

“A veteran who comes home from war is returning from one of the most intense experiences a human being can have. Even if he was not under fire every day, he woke up every morning as part of a team. He started every day with a purpose, and a mission that mattered to those around him.”

— Eric Greitens

“I had been given the greatest gift an education could provide: I had a better idea of what it meant to live a good life”

— Eric Greitens

“Hall, you should have died. Do pushups for being alive." Greg Hall knocked out twenty happy pushups and yelled, "Hooyah for being alive.”

— Eric Greitens

“When I was in third grade
the age of many of the boys here
my parents had debated whether or not to buy me a pair of [special soccer shoes] ... Here in Bolivia most of the kids played in bare feet, and they had as much fun as we ever had. Alone, human beings can feel hunger. Alone, we can feel cold. Alone, we can feel pain. To feel poor, however, is something that we do only in comparison to others. I took off my shoes.”

— Eric Greitens

“If you respected someone, then you had to ask something of them.”

— Eric Greitens

“Across the globe, even in the world's "worst places," people found ways to turn pain into wisdom and suffering into strength. They made their own actions, their very lives, into a memorial that honored the people they had lost.”

— Eric Greitens

“In the name of "force protection," the military often rolls up windows, builds walls, and points rifles at the outside world. The best force protection, however, is to be surrounded by friends and allies.”

— Eric Greitens

“These moments of immersion, of engagement, of clear focus-moments that can last for hours, occasionally days-are some of the best times of our lives.”

— Eric Greitens

Accept that you are imperfect and always will be. Your quest is not to perfect yourself, but to better your imperfect self.

— Eric Greitens

“As a leader, you have to have the humility to understand that your power is limited.”

— Eric Greitens

“Know this: anyone who does anything worthy, anything noble, anything meaningful, will have critics.”

— Eric Greitens

“We learn who we are and where we come from, what is right and what is wrong, from hearing and telling stories-something”

— Eric Greitens

The fox knows many things . . . the hedgehog knows one big thing.

— Eric Greitens

“Resilience is the virtue that enables people to move through hardship and become better. No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffering can come strength-if we have the virtue of resilience.”

— Eric Greitens

“Interahamwe and became a murderer. The stories they told were straightforward:”

— Eric Greitens

“Whatever my limited knowledge, I tried to make up for it with energy.”

— Eric Greitens

The point is to read in a way that leads to better thinking, and to think in a way that leads to better living.

— Eric Greitens

“Insights come through practice. When we work at something, we come to see it differently.”

— Eric Greitens

“Arrogance is the armor worn by hollow men,”

— Eric Greitens

“If you start with humility, you see every person as your teacher.”

— Eric Greitens

“The work of reflection is something you have to do for yourself. No one else can make you wise.”

— Eric Greitens

“Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken bridge, or rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart and rebuild a weakened will.”

— Eric Greitens

“Would you love people the same if they could never die?”

— Eric Greitens

“The best friends support us, challenge us, inspire us. And we do the same for them.”

— Eric Greitens

“The Lance Corporal [a junior enlisted rank] at the back of your platoon may not know every detail of your operation. He may not have read every piece of intelligence about your enemy, or every nuance of your larger strategy, but he'll always know one thing: he'll know whether or not you care about him.”

— Eric Greitens

“Often, your mentors are already in your life; you just haven't yet found a way to learn from them.”

— Eric Greitens

“Today, in a culture that should know enough to be forgiving of human weakness, we often fail to remember that people are not great all the time. People practice greatness. They perform with greatness. People practice courage. They perform with courage. And then, one day, they don't. This does not make them cowards. It makes them human.”

— Eric Greitens

“If you're growing, you're likely failing. If you're not failing, you're likely not growing.”

— Eric Greitens

“You don't have to know what perfect looks like, but you do have to know what better looks like.”

— Eric Greitens

“We should be, in part, beginners for our entire lives. Beginning anew refreshes the habit of learning.”

— Eric Greitens

“So you ask yourself: Am I willing to take responsibility for my life, in word and in deed? If not, your chances of living a rich and fulfilling life are almost zero. If so, you have the potential for a joyous journey ahead.”

— Eric Greitens

“The new has no special claim on the true.”

— Eric Greitens

“First, many critics are cowards. Not only do they snipe at lives that they are unwilling to live themselves, but they'll mouth off for years and never once have the courage to sit down with you, face to face, and tell you what they think. If you let them direct what you do, you are turning your life over to cowards. Second,”

— Eric Greitens

“What happens to us becomes part of us. Resilient people do not bounce back from hard experiences; they find healthy ways to integrate them into their lives. In”

— Eric Greitens

“Education aims to change what you know. Training aims to change who you are.”

— Eric Greitens

Any nation that draws too great a distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.

— Eric Greitens

“Clarity of purpose creates perspective.”

— Eric Greitens

When people have a shared commitment, differences and disagreements don't disappear, but they can be seen in a new light.

— Eric Greitens

Don't expect a time in your life when you'll be free from change, free from struggle, free from worry. To be resilient, you must understand that your objective is not to come to rest, because there is no rest. Your objective is to use what hits you to change your trajectory in a positive direction.

— Eric Greitens

“Teams that are moved by great purpose become tighter still when things are tough.”

— Eric Greitens

“Seneca: Fate guides the willing but drags the unwilling.”

— Eric Greitens

“Failure and pain and hardship have the meaning we choose to give them.”

— Eric Greitens

I thought buying at the local market would be an excellent way to build positive relationships with the local villagers.

— Eric Greitens

“The best definition I have ever heard of a vocation is that it's the place where your great joy meets the world's great need. We need all of you to find your vocation. To develop your joys, your passions, and to match them to the world's great needs.”

— Eric Greitens