George S. Patton Quotes

77 Sourced Quotes

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

George S. Patton
Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.

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

George S. Patton
A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.

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

George S. Patton
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.

George S. Patton
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.

George S. Patton
In the second place, Harrison and his ilk believe that the Displaced Person is a human being, which he is not, and this applies particularly to the Jews, who are lower than animals.

George S. Patton
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.

George S. Patton
In the space of two days I had evolved two plans, wholly distinct, both of which were equally feasible. The point I am trying to bring out is that one does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit those plans. One tries to make plans fit the circumstances.

George S. Patton
All military governments are going to be targets from now on for every sort of Jewish and Communistic attack from the press.
My self esteem would be better had I simply asked for immediate retirement but then any thing I said in the future could be attributed to revenge...
At the moment I feel pretty mad.

George S. Patton
Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

George S. Patton
We must guard against becoming so engrossed in the specific nature of the roots and bark of the trees of knowledge as to miss the meaning and grandeur of the forest they compose.

George S. Patton
There is only one sort of discipline - PERFECT DISCIPLINE. Men cannot have good battle discipline and poor administrative discipline.

George S. Patton
Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back?

George S. Patton
Prisoner of War guard companies, or an equivalent organization, should be as far forward as possible in action to take over prisoners of war, because troops heated with battle are not safe custodians. Any attempt to rob or loot prisoners of war by escorts must be dealt strictly with.

George S. Patton
I don't know what you think you're trying to do, but the krauts ought to pin a medal on you for helping them mess up discipline for us.

George S. Patton
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.

George S. Patton
I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.

George S. Patton
Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star. In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.

George S. Patton
All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain.

George S. Patton
We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it. This might mean war with the Russians, but what of it? They have no Air Force anymore, their gasoline and ammunition supplies are low. I've seen their miserable supply trains; mostly wagons draw by beaten up old hoses or oxen. I'll say this; the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casualties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them... Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.

George S. Patton
Always do everything you ask of those you command.

George S. Patton
Don't forget, you men don't know that I'm here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the Goddamned Germans. Some day I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, "Jesus Christ, it's the Goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton".

George S. Patton
An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about fucking!

George S. Patton
I wonder if I could have been here before as I drive up the Roman road the Theater seems familiar — perhaps I headed a legion up that same white road... I passed a chateau in ruins which I possibly helped escalade in the middle ages. There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, We are, and we will be.

George S. Patton
All through your Army careers, you men have bitched about what you call "chicken shit drilling". That, like everything else in this Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who's not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready for what's to come.

George S. Patton
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.

George S. Patton
Any commander who fails to obtain his objective, and who is not dead or severely wounded, has not done his full duty.

George S. Patton
I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave. I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.

George S. Patton