Best General S. Patton Quotes

General Patton Quotes About Leadership, Russia, Death, War, Fear, A good Plan, Nuts, Veterans, Winning & Success! American military leader General George Patton is most recognized for his daring and decisive efforts throughout World Wars I and II. On November 11, 1885, Patton was born in San Gabriel, California. Patton was a slow student initially, but he eventually learned to love reading.

While growing up, his interest in military history and horseback riding led him to pursue a career in the military. In his heart, he wanted to enlist in the military. Fort Sheridan, Illinois, was his first assignment with the “15th Cavalry,” and it was here that he quickly made his mark as an enthusiastic and rapidly junior officer.

As a result of his combat techniques, he was the first army officer to be given the title “Master of the Sword. Initially, Patton enlisted in Pershing’s service as an assistant at the outbreak of World War I. In May 1917, he received his promotion to captain after completing his tank training. In April 1918, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and enrolled in Langres’ ‘Command and General Staff College.’

He worked in various command and staff positions throughout the interwar era, when he wrote guides on tank combat and design. In December 1944, his “Third Army” left Saarbrucken at record speed and returned to the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans were beaten in Bastogne and driven back to Germany by his soldiers. In Bad Nauheim, he was given final command of the ‘Fifteenth US Army.’ He died on December 21, 1945. George Patton’s strategies and leadership abilities have made him a legend.

Best General Patton Quotes

1. “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”– George S. Patton.

2. “You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle.”– George S. Patton.

3. “Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.”– George S. Patton.

4. “Infantry must move forward to close with the enemy. It must shoot in order to move…. To halt under fire is folly. To halt under fire and not fire back is suicide. Officers must set the example”– George S. Patton.

5. “No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.”– George S. Patton.

6. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”– George S. Patton.

7. “Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are.”– George S. Patton.

8. “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 is never tired if the mind is not tired.”– George S. Patton.

9. “A man must know his destiny, if he does not recognize it, then he is lost.”– George S. Patton.

10. “Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.”– George S. Patton.

11. “Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men.”– George S. Patton.

12. “When in doubt, observe and ask questions. When certain, observe at a length and ask many more questions.”– George S. Patton.

13. “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.”– George S. Patton.

14. “Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little.”– George S. Patton.

15. “A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.”– George S. Patton.

16. “Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself and to American tradition.”– George S. Patton.

17. “Every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he’s not he’s a liar.”– George S. Patton.

18. “An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a stupid lie.”– George S. Patton.

19. “Once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate would 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.”– George S. Patton.

20. “All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be treated so.”– George S. Patton.

21. “An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.”– George S. Patton.

22. “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.”– George S. Patton.

23. “Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.”– George S. Patton.

24. “Always do everything you ask of those you command.”– George S. Patton.

25. “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.”– George S. Patton.

26. “I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.”– George S. Patton.

27. “Go forward until the last round is fired and the last drop of gas is expended, then go forward on foot!”– George S. Patton.

28. “The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared.”– George S. Patton.

29. “There is no such thing as luck, merely opportunity meeting preparedness.”– George S. Patton.

30. “A war may be fought with weapons, but won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”– George S. Patton.