George S. Patton Quotations

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

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline.

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

A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end.

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

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

If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

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

Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.

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.

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.

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

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.

A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

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

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

Americans love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

I would rather have a good plan today than a perfect plan two weeks from now.

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 the war.

If a man has done his best, what else is there?

Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.

Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politicians.

Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

There is no such thing as a successful defence.

If man does his best what else is there?

I have pissed in the Rhine, now send me gas!

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

It seems to me a certainty that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed and the utter degradation of the Arab women are the outstanding causes for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have been developing.

I do not fear failure. I only fear the "slowing up" of the engine inside of me which is pounding, saying, "Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.

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

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.

...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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is bearing arms.

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.

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.

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

Never let the enemy pick the battle site.

Always do more than is required of you.

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

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

When in doubt, ATTACK!

In case of doubt, attack.

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

Perpetual peace is a futile dream.

Pressure makes diamonds

To be a successful soldier, you must know history.

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

An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.

Fear kills more people than death.

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

You're never beaten until you admit it

Always advance. Never dig in.

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

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

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.

A man must know his destiny. if he does not recognize it, then he is lost.

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

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

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.

It is the cold glitter of the attacker's eye not the point of the questing bayonet that breaks the line.

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

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

War is simple, direct, and ruthless.

The only way you get on in this profession is to have the reputation of doing what you are told as thoroughly as possible.