George s. patton quotes

The most vital quality a soldier can possess is self-confidence.

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.

Achievers are resolute in their goals and driven by determination. Discouragement is temporary, obstacles are overcome, and doubt is defeated, yielding to personal victory. You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals. Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.

Live for something rather than die for nothing.

Fear kills more people than death.

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.

Always advance. Never dig in.

You fight like you train.

Do your duty as you see it, and damn the consequences.

By perseverance, study, and eternal desire, any man can become great.

A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances.

When in doubt, observe and ask questions. When certain, observe at length and ask many more questions.

America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and will never, lose a war.

A real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood.

The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

We entered a synagogue which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. Either these Displaced Persons never had any sense of decency or else they lost it all during their period of internment by the Germans. My personal opinion is that no people could have sunk to the level of degradation these have reached in the short space of four years.

Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the Goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men.

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

Wars are not won by fighting battles; wars are won by choosing battles

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

I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.

The reason there are so many tree-lined boulevards in Paris is so the German army can march in the shade.

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men

To me it seems certain that the fatalistic teachings of Muhammad and the utter degradation of women is the outstanding cause for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have kept on developing.

In case of doubt, attack.

You must be single minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided.

Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.

To be a successful soldier, you must know history.

Attack rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest, however tired and hungry you may be, the enemy will be more tired, more hungry. Keep punching.

A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.

Plans must be simple and flexible....They must be made by the people who execute them.

When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage.

There is no such thing as luck, merely opportunity meeting preparedness. George S. Patton Jr.

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.

Don't fall victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire.

I'd rather have a German Division in front of me than a French one behind.

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.

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.

In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it.

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

You're never beaten until you admit it

When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can't run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn't fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag. As for the types of comments I make, sometimes I just, By God, get carried away with my own eloquence.

Do not try to make circumstances fit your plans. Make plans that fit the circumstances.

A man is not measured by how much he can take and stand but by how fast he regains once fallen.

I have studied the enemy all my life. I have read the memoirs of his generals and his leaders. I have even read his philosophers and listened to his music. I have studied in detail the account of every damned one of his battles. I know exactly how he will react under any given set of circumstances. And he hasn't the slightest idea of what I'm going to do. So when the time comes, I'm going to whip the hell out of him.

Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?

Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction.

I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.

The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.

There are three ways that men get what they want: by planning, by working, and by praying.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

Often I have encountered in life that great disappointments have proved to be the road to future successes.

Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.

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.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle.Pray for the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is oppression. Pray for victory. Pray for our Army, and Pray for Peace. We must march together, all out for God.

An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.

Duty is the essence of manhood.

Be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader.

The supreme measure of a man, is what he would risk his life for.

Pressure makes diamonds

Let us not mourn that such men died, but rejoice that such men lived.

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.

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.

Always do more than is required of you.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That's the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

...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.

Audacity, audacity, always audacity.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

Perpetual peace is a futile dream.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.

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.

Make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up.

Remember praise is more valuable than blame.

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.

Do not make excuses, whether it's your fault or not.

You cannot be disciplined in great things and undisciplined in small things.

When a decision has to be made, make it. There is no totally right time for anything.

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.

Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. Always do more than is required of you. If a man has done his best, what else is there?

Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself and to American tradition.

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

In case of doubt, push on just a little further and then keep on pushing.

When there is fear of failure, there will be failure.

Never let the enemy pick the battle site.

May God have mercy for my enemies because I won't.

You shouldn't underestimate an enemy, but it is just as fatal to overestimate him.

The leader must be an actor.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

But between the plan and the operation, there is always an unknown. That unknown spells victory or defeat. ... Some people call it getting the breaks. I call it God. God has His part in everything. That's where prayer comes in.

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.

A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon - it won't work and you can't fire it.

There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

There is no such thing as a successful defense.

Most battles are won before they are ever fought.

The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is bearing arms.

From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don't give a good Goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that.

Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired... You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going.

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

The most difficult thing about being humble is not being able to brag about it.

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

When in doubt, ATTACK!

If I could have three wishes, one would be to take an '88 and shove that barrel up Hitler's ass so that cocksucker can cry like the little god-damned girl he is. And hell, after that, I wouldn't need two more wishes.

It is only by doing things others have not that one can advance.

For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.

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.

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

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.

When everyone agrees, someone is not thinking.

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.

To be a successful soldier you must know history. . . . What you must know is how man reacts. Weapons change but man who uses them changes not at all. To win battles you do not beat weapons - you beat the soul of man of the enemy man.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

Those who live in fear die a thousand deaths.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

If everybody's thinking the same thing, then nobody's thinking.

I read the Bible - every goddamn day.

The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on.