Top 180 George S. Patton Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

154. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

156. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

157. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

158. “Never draw a gun on a man unless you intend to kill him. And believe me, if you do intend to kill him he will already know it. Then he will feel the cold breath of the tomb.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

159. “Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are and probably more so. They are not supermen.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

160. “If you go into a battle, it’s better to win the first time.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

162. “Few men are killed by the bayonet, many are scared by it. Bayonets should be fixed when the fire fight starts.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

163. “So as through a glass, and darkly – The age long strife I see – Where I fought in many guises, – Many names, but always me.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

164. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

165. “In my opinion, the M1 rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

166. “The highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is bearing arms.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

167. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

168. “Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

169. “When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

170. “I am convinced that much more emphasis should be placed on history. The purpose of history is to learn how human beings react when exposed to the danger of wounds or death...”

— George S. Patton Jr.

171. “I have the utmost confidence that through your efforts we will eventually beat the hell out of those bastards – You name them; I’ll shoot them!”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

173. “Sometimes I think your life and mine are under the protection of some supreme being or fate, because, after many years of parallel thought, we find ourselves in the positions we now occupy.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

174. “Coward: someone who in a bad situation thinks with his feet.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

176. “Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back?”

— George S. Patton Jr.

177. “Staff officers of inharmonious disposition, irrespective of their ability, must be removed. A staff cannot function unless it is a united family.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

178. “This is a hell of a way to die.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

179. “I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed! Gen.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

180. “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?”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

182. “Close the playand keep the store open nights.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

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

— George S. Patton Jr.

184. “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.”

— George S. Patton Jr.

185. “It is rather interesting how you get used to death.”

— George S. Patton Jr.