George S. Patton Country Quotations

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

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.

...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.

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

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

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.

The duties of an officer are the safety, honor, and welfare of your country first; the honor, welfare, and comfort of the men in your command second; and the officer s own ease, comfort, and safety last.

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?