George S. Patton Quotes

Tanks are new and special weapon-newer than, as special, and certainly as valuable as the airplane.

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.

Many, who should know better, think that wars can be decided by soulless machines, rather than by the blood and anguish of brave men.

Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little.

All glory is fleeting.

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

I do not have to tell you who won the war. You know, the artillery did.

I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed! Gen.

Discipline must be a habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the excitement of battle.

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.

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

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

continue to advance until you run out of ammunition. Then, dig in.

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!

Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction.

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?

I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood.

If I do my full duty, the rest will take care of itself.

I am convinced that much more emphasis should be placed on history. The purpose of history is to learn how human beings react when exposed to the danger of wounds or death.

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.

It is absurd to believe that soldiers who cannot be made to wear the proper uniform can be induced to move forward in battle. Officers who fail to perform their duty by correcting small violations and in enforcing proper conduct are incapable of leading.

Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge.

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

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

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.

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.

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

There is no such thing as a successful defense.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

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.

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.

Remember praise is more valuable than blame.

The leader must be an actor.

Coward: someone who in a bad situation thinks with his feet

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

Few men are killed by the bayonet, many are scared by it. Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts

My men can eat their belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

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.

If you go into a battle, it's better to win the first time.

Take not counsel of your fears

The publicity I have been getting, a good deal of which is untrue, and the rest of it ill considered, has done me more harm than good.

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

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.

Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.

An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.

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.

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.