110 Inspiring Quotes by George S. Patton

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

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

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

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

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.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on.

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

An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.

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

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!

The most vital quality a soldier can possess is self-confidence.

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

Pressure makes diamonds.

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?

When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.

An imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently will always succeed better than a perfect plan.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

A good battle plan that you act on today can be better than a perfect one tomorrow.

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.

The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is bearing arms.

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.

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

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.

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.

A man must know his destiny.

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

Always do more than is required of you.

Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it.

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.

No sane man is unafraid in battle, but discipline produces in him a form of vicarious courage.

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

An incessant change of means to attain unalterable ends is always going on; we must take care not to let these sundry means undo eminence in the perspective of our minds; for, since the beginning, there has been an unending cycle of them, and for each its advocates have claimed adoption as the sole solution of successful war.

War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula.

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

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.

Officers must be made to care for their men. That is the sole duty of all officers.

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

You shouldn't underestimate an enemy, but it is just as fatal to overestimate him.

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

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.

In war nothing is impossible, provided you use audacity.

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.

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

Don't fall victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire.

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

Success demands a high level of logistical and organizational competence.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.

Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.

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.

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

If I could have three wishes, one would be to take an '88 and shove that barrel up Hitler's ass so that cocksucker can cry like the little god-damned girl he is. And hell, after that, I wouldn't need two more wishes.

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

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.

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.

There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates.

If everybody's thinking the same thing, then nobody's thinking.

There is no such thing as a successful defense.

Do as I have taught you, and you will stay alive.

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.

In forty hours I shall be in battle, with little information, and on the spur of the moment will have to make the most momentous decisions. But I believe that one's spirit enlarges with responsibility and that, with God's help, I shall make them, and make them right.

In landing operations, retreat is impossible, to surrender is as ignoble as it is foolish. above all else remember that we as attackers have the initiative, we know exactly what we are going to do, while the enemy is ignorant of our intentions and can only parry our blows. We must retain this tremendous advantage by always attacking rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, and without rest.

Let's keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to the Red Army. This is the only language they understand and respect.

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.

The obvious thing for the cavalryman to do is to accept the fighting machine as a partner, and prepare to meet more fully the demands of future warfare.

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

Why is it that all battles are fought in the middle of the night, in downpouring rain, and at the corners of four different maps?

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

You fight like you train.

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

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

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

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.

I always believe in being prepared, even when I'm dressed in white tie and tails.

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

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

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

Now in war we are confronted with conditions which are strange.
If we accept them we will never win.
Since being realistic, as in mundane combats fistic,
We will get a bloody nose and that's a sin.

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

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. The only way you get on in this profession is to have the reputation of doing what you are told as thoroughly as possible. So far I have been able to accomplish that, and I believe I have gotten quite a reputation from not kicking at peculiar assignments.

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

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

The supreme measure of a man, is what he would risk his life for.

You just wait and see. The lily-livered bastards in Washington will demobilize. They'll say they've made the world safe for democracy again. The Russians are not such damned fools. They'll rebuild; and with modern weapons.

Success in war depends upon the golden rule of war.

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

All glory is fleeting.

I am sure that if every leader who goes into battle will promise himself that he will come out either a conqueror or a corpse, he is sure to win. There is no doubt of that. Defeat is not due to losses but to the destruction of the Soul of the leaders-the 'live to fight another day' doctrine.

The fixed determination to have acquired the warrior soul, to either conquer or perish with honor, is the secret of victory.

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

So let us do real fighting, boring in and gouging, biting.

Success is not getting to the top -- but how you bounce up from the bottom that counts.

There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, we are, and we will be.

One does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit the plans. One tries to make plans fit the circumstances.

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.

A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon -- it won't work and you can't fire it.