George S. Patton Jr. > Quotes

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“May God have mercy for my enemies because I won't.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself and to American tradition.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“When in doubt, ATTACK!”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he s not he s a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.

Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some it takes an hour. For some it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor his sense of duty to his country and his innate manhood.

Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Do your duty as you see it, and damn the consequences.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“If a man does his best, what else is there?”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Pressure makes diamonds”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“I want you to remember, that no poor dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it, by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”
― George S. Patton Jr., War as I Knew It

“Give me an Army of West Point graduates and I'll win a battle... Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and I'll win a war.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book! ”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“A real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. ”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“...It is a proud privilege to be a soldier – a good soldier … [with] discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a self confidence born of demonstrated ability.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.”
― George S. Patton Jr., Patton Principles

“You cannot be disciplined in great things and undisciplined in small things. Brave undisciplined men have no chance against the discipline and valour of other men. Have you seen a few policemen handle a crowd?”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“There are three ways that men get what they want: by planning, by working, and by praying. Any great military operation takes careful planning or thinking. Then you must have well trained troops to carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there is always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory; success or failure. It is the reaction of the actors to the ordeal when it actually comes. Some people call that getting the breaks. I call it God. God has His part or margin in everything. That's where prayer comes in.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are and probably more so. They are not supermen”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“To be a successful soldier, you must know history.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“A man is not measured by how much he can take and stand but by how fast he regains once fallen.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Never draw a gun on a man unless you intend to kill him. And believe me, if you do intend to kill him he will already know it. Then he will feel the cold breath of the tomb.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“I don’t fear failure. I only fear the slowing up of the engine inside of me which is saying, ‘Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“An Army is a team. It lives sleeps eats and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“continue to advance until you run out of ammunition. Then, dig in.”
― George S. Patton Jr., War as I Knew It

“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Take not counsel of your fears”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. ... You can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son of a Goddamned Bitch named Georgie Patton.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Coward: someone who in a bad situation thinks with his feet”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don t ever let up. Don t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. ”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Battle is an orgy of disorder.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Death can be more exciting than life.”
― George S. Patton Jr.

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
― George S. Patton Jr., War as I Knew It