Top 100 George S. Patton Quotes
#1. Sir, I am not a brave man ... The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.
George S. Patton
#2. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.
George S. Patton
#3. I'd rather have a German Division in front of me than a French one behind.
George S. Patton
#4. All men are timid on entering any fight. Whether it is the first or the last fight, all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood.
George S. Patton
#7. I learned very early in my life never to take counsel in my fears.
George S. Patton
#8. Staff officers of inharmonious disposition, irrespective of their ability, must be removed. A staff cannot function unless it is a united family.
George S. Patton
#9. Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.
George S. Patton
#11. Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back?
George S. Patton
#13. Make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up.
George S. Patton
#16. The more I see of Arabs the less I think of them. By having studied them a good deal I have found out the trouble. They are the mixture of all the bad races on earth, and they get worse from west to east, because the eastern ones have had more crosses.
George S. Patton
#17. I am sure that if every leader who goes into battle will promise himself that he will come out either a conqueror or a corpse, he is sure to win. There is no doubt of that. Defeat is not due to losses but to the destruction of the Soul of the leaders-the 'live to fight another day' doctrine.
George S. Patton
#18. If you go into a battle, it's better to win the first time.
George S. Patton
#19. There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, we are, and we will be.
George S. Patton
#20. There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time.
George S. Patton
#22. Success demands a high level of logistical and organizational competence.
George S. Patton
#23. All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.
George S. Patton
#25. Officers must be made to care for their men. That is the sole duty of all officers.
George S. Patton
#26. Successful generals make plans to fit circumstances, but do not try to create circumstances to fit plans.
George S. Patton
#27. Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.
George S. Patton
#28. In case of doubt, push on just a little further and then keep on pushing.
George S. Patton
#30. There is no such thing as luck, merely opportunity meeting preparedness. George S. Patton Jr.
George S. Patton
#31. Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God help me, I do love it so.
George S. Patton
#32. Many, who should know better, think that wars can be decided by soulless machines, rather than by the blood and anguish of brave men.
George S. Patton
#33. My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back.
George S. Patton
#36. To conquer, we must destroy our enemies. We must not only die gallantly; we must kill devastatingly. The faster and more effectively you kill, the longer you will live to enjoy the priceless fame of conquerors.
George S. Patton
#38. War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula
George S. Patton
#39. War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity.
George S. Patton
#40. A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon - it won't work and you can't fire it.
George S. Patton
#41. In forty hours I shall be in battle, with little information, and on the spur of the moment will have to make the most momentous decisions. But I believe that one's spirit enlarges with responsibility and that, with God's help, I shall make them, and make them right.
George S. Patton
#42. In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it.
George S. Patton
#43. The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is bearing arms.
George S. Patton
#44. Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.
George S. Patton
#45. Infantry must move forward to close with the enemy. It must shoot in order to move ... To halt under fire is folly. To halt under fire and not fire back is suicide. Officers must set the example
George S. Patton
#46. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either.
George S. Patton
#48. If everybody's thinking the same thing, then nobody's thinking.
George S. Patton
#50. We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.
George S. Patton
#52. Discipline must be a habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the excitement of battle.
George S. Patton
#53. Why is it that all battles are fought in the middle of the night, in downpouring rain, and at the corners of four different maps?
George S. Patton
#55. Do not try to make circumstances fit your plans. Make plans that fit the circumstances.
George S. Patton
#56. Tanks are new and special weapon-newer than, as special, and certainly as valuable as the airplane.
George S. Patton
#57. If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.
George S. Patton
#58. Success is not getting to the top - but how you bounce up from the bottom that counts.
George S. Patton
#59. Few men are killed by the bayonet, many are scared by it. Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts
George S. Patton
#60. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood.
George S. Patton
#61. For years I have been accused of making snap judgments. Honestly, this is not the case because I am a profound military student and the thoughts I express, perhaps too flippantly, are the result of years of thought and study.
George S. Patton
#62. It is only by doing things others have not that one can advance.
George S. Patton
#63. Remember wars are won by killing people. The more we kill, the quicker we'll get out of this war.
George S. Patton
#64. In the space of two days I had evolved two plans, wholly distinct, both of which were equally feasible. The point I am trying to bring out is that one does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit those plans. One tries to make plans fit the circumstances.
George S. Patton
#65. You just wait and see. The lily-livered b*stards in Washington will demobilize. They'll say they've made the world safe for democracy again. The Russians are not such d*mned fools. They'll rebuild; and with modern weapons.
George S. Patton
#66. If you can't get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?
George S. Patton
#67. Discipline can only be obtained when all the officers are imbued with the sense of their awful obligation to their men and to their country that they cannot tolerate negligence. Officers who fail to correct errors or to praise excellence are valueless in peace and dangerous misfits in war.
George S. Patton
#68. The obvious thing for the cavalryman to do is to accept the fighting machine as a partner, and prepare to meet more fully the demands of future warfare.
George S. Patton
#69. So let us do real fighting, boring in and gouging, biting.
George S. Patton
#71. Plans must be simple and flexible ... They must be made by the people who execute them.
George S. Patton
#74. You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.
George S. Patton
#75. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts.
George S. Patton
#76. When a decision has to be made, make it. There is no totally right time for anything.
George S. Patton
#77. I always believe in being prepared, even when I'm dressed in white tie and tails.
George S. Patton
#78. A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.
George S. Patton
#79. Let's keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to the Red Army. This is the only language they understand and respect.
George S. Patton
#80. Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little.
George S. Patton
#81. There's only one way for a professional soldier to die. That's from the last bullet of the last battle of the last war.
George S. Patton
#82. So as through a glass, and darkly - The age long strife I see - Where I fought in many guises, - Many names, but always me.
George S. Patton
#83. When we land against the enemy, don't forget to hit him and hit him hard. When we meet the enemy we will kill him. We will show him no mercy.
George S. Patton
#84. Unless you do your best, the day will come when, tired and hungry, you will halt just short of the goal you were ordered to reach, and by halting you will make useless the efforts and deaths of thousands.
George S. Patton
#86. America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and will never, lose a war.
George S. Patton
#88. Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war.
George S. Patton
#90. Let us not mourn that such men died, but rejoice that such men lived.
George S. Patton
#91. Go forward until the last round is fired and the last drop of gas is expended ... then go forward on foot!
George S. Patton
#94. Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
George S. Patton
#95. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on.
George S. Patton
#96. The fixed determination to have acquired the warrior soul, to either conquer or perish with honor, is the secret of victory.
George S. Patton
#97. The reason there are so many tree-lined boulevards in Paris is so the German army can march in the shade.
George S. Patton
#98. I do not have to tell you who won the war. You know, the artillery did.
George S. Patton
#99. My men can eat their belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas.
George S. Patton
#100. Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.
George S. Patton
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