George S. Patton Quotes

“Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God help me, I do love it so.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I learned very early in my life never to take counsel in my fears.”

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

“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”

“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.”

“Every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watchingmen fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.”

“...an imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently will always succeed better than a perfect plan.”

“Duty is the essence of manhood.”

“When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty.”

“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.”

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

“Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.”

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

“Fear kills more people than death.”

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

“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”

“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.”

“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.”

“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?”

“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.”

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

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

“To be a successful soldier, you must know history.”