Gen. George Smith Jr. PATTON

  General Notes:

Virginia Military Institute; West Point, 1909
aka "Old Blood and Guts"

WORLD WAR I & II VETERAN
AIDE DE CAMP TO GENERAL PERSHING, 1916
5TH IN THE PENTATHLON, STOCKHOLM OLYMPICS, 1912
PILOT, HORSEMAN, SAILOR

The controversial Gen. George S. Patton served under Gen. Pershing in World War I and commanded the Seventh Army in World War II during the invasion of Sicily in 1943. He was largely responsible for repelling the German counter-attack at theBattle of the Bulge.

"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his." --General George S. Patton

"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. " --General George S. Patton

"Through A Glass, Darkly
So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more."
--a poem by George S. Patton

George C. Scott immortalized Gen. Patton in the 1970 Oscar winning film, "Patton."

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

I would rather have a good plan today than a perfect plan two weeks from now.

A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.

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

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

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

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people.

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

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

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer

Always do more than is required of you.

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the manwho leads that gains the victory.

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?"

If I do my full duty, the rest will take care of itself.

A General Talks to His Army

"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. ALL REAL Americans, love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers . . . Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in Hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post, don't know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. You know . . . My God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against. My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment before was your best friends face, you'll know what to do. Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose. Now, there's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War Two?" You won't have to say, "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana." Alright now, you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. Oh! . . . I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That's all."

General George S. Patton, Jr.
3rd Army speech
England, 31 May 1944
6th Armored Division
SOURCE: http://www.employees.org/~ferguson/Patton.html