Quotes from George S. Patton Jr.

Son, only a pimp in a Louisiana whore- house carries pearl-handled revolvers. These are ivory.

He who sweats more in training bleeds less in battle.

I fought in many guises, Many names, but always me. And I see not in my blindness What the objects were I wrought, But as God rules o'er our bickerings It was through His will I fought. So forever in the future, Shall I battle as of yore, Dying to be born a... fighter, But to die again, once more.

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.

Just drive down that road until you get blown up.

To Hell With Compromises

I hope that in the final settlement of the war, you insist that the Germans retain Lorraine, because I can imagine no greater burden than to be the owner of this nasty country where it rains every day.

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

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

We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to rip out their living goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks.

To be a good soldier a man must have discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and in his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to his comrades and to his superiors, and self-confidence bom of demonstrated ability.

The greatest weapon against the so-called "battle fatigue" is ridicule.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

There are apparently two types of successful soldiers. Those who get on by being unobtrusive and those who get on by being obtrusive. I am of the latter type and seem to be rare and unpopular: but it is my method. One has to choose a system and stick to it; people who are not themselves are nobody.

The unleavened bread of knowledge will sustain life, but it is dull fare unless it is leavened with the yeast of personality.

We then went to the swimming pool which is beyond the reception room. This was the finest pool I had ever seen, with red-and-green submerged lights, and a diving board in polished duraluminium.

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.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future.

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

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?