Great Throughts Treasury

"Do your duty as you see it, and damn the consequences."

"Don't forget, you men don't know that I'm here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the Goddamned Germans. Someday I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, "Jesus Christ, it's the Goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton"."

"Every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. 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. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense ofduty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base."

"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."

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

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

"Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man."

"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."

"For in war just as in loving you must keep on shoving or you'll never get your reward. For if you are dilatory in the search for lust or glory. You are up shit-creek and that's the truth, Oh, Lord. So let us do real fighting, boring in and gouging, biting. Let's take a chance now that we have the ball. Let's forget those fine firm bases in the dreary shell raked spaces, let's shoot the works and win! Yes win it all."

"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."

"From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don't give a good Goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that."

"God help me, I do love it so!"

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

"Go forward until the last round is fired and the last drop of gas is expended...then go forward on foot!"

"Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy."

"Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage."

"He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

"I always believe in being prepared, even when I'm dressed in white tie and tails."

"I am a Soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight."

"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."

"I don’t fear failure. I only fear the slowing up of the engine inside of me which is saying, ‘Keep going, someone must be on top, why not you?"

"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!"

"I don’t give a damn about the color of your skin."

"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."

"I don't know what you think you're trying to do, but the krauts ought to pin a medal on you for helping them mess up discipline for us."

"I want you to remember, that no poor dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it, by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

"If I win I can't be stopped! If I lose I shall be dead."

"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."

"I wonder if I could have been here before as I drive up the Roman road the Theater seems familiar — perhaps I headed a legion up that same white road... I passed a chateau in ruins which I possibly helped escalade in the middle ages. There is no proof nor yet any denial. We were, We are, and we will be."

"If you can't get them to salute when they should salute and wear the clothes you tell them to wear, how are you going to get them to die for their country?"

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

"If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results."

"In case of doubt, attack."

"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."

"In the second place, Harrison and his ilk believe that the Displaced Person is a human being, which he is not, and this applies particularly to the Jews, who are lower than animals."

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

"It is a proud privilege to be a soldier – a good soldier … [with] discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a self-confidence born of demonstrated ability."

"It is absurd to believe that soldiers who cannot be made to wear the proper uniform can be induced to move forward in battle. Officers who fail to perform their duty by correcting small violations and in enforcing proper conduct are incapable of leading."

"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"

"It is only by doing things others have not that one can advance."

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

"Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way."

"Live for something rather than die for nothing."

"It is rather interesting how you get used to death. I have had to go to inspect the troops in which case you run a very good chance — or I should say a reasonable chance — of being bombed or shot at from the air, and shelled or shot at from the ground. I had the same experience every day which is for the first half-hour the palms of my hands sweat and I feel depressed. Then, if one hits near you, it seems to break the spell and you don't notice them anymore. Going back in the evening over the same ground and at a time when the shelling and bombing are usually heavier, you become so used to it you never think about it."

"Just drive down that road, until you get blown up"

"It is the unconquerable nature of man and not the nature of the weapon he uses that ensures victory."

"Make your plans to fit the circumstances."

"Magnificent! Compared to war all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance."

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

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