quotes by 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.

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

"Better to fight for something than live for nothing."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking."
— 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.

"When in doubt, ATTACK!"
— George S. Patton Jr.

"May god have mercy for my enemies because I won't."
— 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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory"
— 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.

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

"You cannot be disciplined in great things and indiscipline 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.

"Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book! "
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"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.

"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.

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Now I want you to remember that no 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.

"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.

"Do your duty as you see it, and damn the consequences."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more"
— 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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

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

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week"
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Lead, follow, or just get out of the way!"
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity"
— 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)

"Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are and probably more so. They are not supermen"
— 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.

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

"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking."
— 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.

"Battle is an orgy of disorder."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Si todo el mundo piensa igual es que alguien no está pensando."
— George S. Patton Jr.

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
— George S. Patton Jr. (War As I Knew It)

"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.