George S. Patton War Quotations

Coward: someone who in a bad situation thinks with his feet

Never in history has the navy landed an army at the planned time and place. But if you land us anywhere within 50 miles of Fedela and within 1 week of D-Day. I'll go ahead and win.

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.

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

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

The soldier is the army.

We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit.

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.

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.

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.

Remember wars are won by killing people. The more we kill, the quicker we'll get out of this war.

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.

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.

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.

War is very simple, direct, and ruthless. It takes a simple, direct, and ruthless man to wage war.

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 god of war hates those who hesitate.

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.

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

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. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight.

Success in war depends upon the golden rule of war.

Success is how you bounce on the bottom.

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

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

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.

The leader must be an actor.

America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and will never, lose a war.

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.

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

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.

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.

There's only one way for a professional soldier to die. That's from the last bullet of the last battle of the last war.

In war nothing is impossible, provided you use audacity.

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

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.

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

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

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

War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity.

War is simple, direct, and ruthless.

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.

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

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

Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.

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.

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

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.

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