Sergeant Markoff quotes

View Quote Discipline makes the strength of armies. It is necessary that superiors obtain from their subordinates immediate obedience without murmuring. Discipline will be firm but it will also be fatherly. Officers must use psychology when dealing with men. Any questions about the regulations? I am Sgt. Markoff. I make soldiers out of s**** like you, and I don't do it gently. You're the sloppiest looking lot I've ever seen. It's up to me to prevent you from becoming a disgrace to the regiment. And I will prevent that if I have to kill half of you with work. But the half that lives will be soldiers - I promise you.

View Quote The punishment for desertion is death by the firing squad. But I'm going to be merciful. You can escape again...I insist that you escape!...[To the scouts] Drive them out where you found them. And keep them away from the oasis. [Turning back with a scowl toward the legionnaires] Any more of you want to desert? If you do, you can go now. I won't stop you. Later, you may wish you'd taken my offer, I promise you.

View Quote The attempt at mutiny is over, my children. You bungled it so much it wasn't really a mutiny. But you'll be punished as though it were. And now, you s****! It's my turn. I'm going to give you a lesson in putting down an attempted mutiny that'll be the last thing you'll ever see. Maybe this will make you die happy. Markoff thanks you. When he's an officer and has the Legion of Honor, he'll think often of the stupid, blundering pigs that put him where he is.

View Quote Keep shooting, you s****! You'll get a chance yet to die with your boots on!

View Quote [propping up dead bodies] Everybody does his duty - and soon enough. Dead or alive. We'll make those Arabs think we got a thousand men. The rest of the bullets you stop won't hurt as much as that first one.

View Quote [as the Arabs flee] Look at them. They come when I want them, and they go when I don't need them anymore. They're beaten, but they've put down a mutiny for me. They've given me the Legion of Honor, and they've made me an officer!