George Patton cytaty

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. (ang.)
Źródło: G.S. Patton, P.D. Harkins War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. 357.

The difficulty in understanding the Russians is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other Asiatic characteristics, the Russian have no regard for human life and is an all out son of bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk.
Źródło: Stanley P. Hirshson, General Patton: A Soldier’s Life, HarperCollins, 2003, s. 650.

May God have mercy upon my enemies; they will need it.
Źródło: G.S. Patton, Paul Donal Harkins, War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. XIV.

A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later. (ang.)
Źródło: Charles M. Province, The unknown Patton http://books.google.pl/books?id=yXshAAAAMAAJ&q=A+good+solution+applied+with+vigor+now+is+better+than+a+perfect+solution+applied+ten+minutes+later&dq=A+good+solution+applied+with+vigor+now+is+better+than+a+perfect+solution+applied+ten+minutes+later&hl=pl&ei=1i2WTLzbFsnJswae84xb&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCcQ6AEwATgK, Hippocrene Books, 1983, s. 165.

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 of duty 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. (ang.)
Źródło: The Patton speech [w:] Tim Ripley, Patton Unleashed: Pattons Third Army and the Breakout from Normandy http://books.google.pl/books?id=eXp-tRBGSRoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0, Zenith Imprint, 2003, s. 12.

My men don’t surrender, and I don’t want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back.
Źródło: The Patton speech [w:] Tim Ripley, Patton Unleashed: Pattons Third Army and the Breakout from Normandy http://books.google.pl/books?id=eXp-tRBGSRoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0, Zenith Imprint, 2003, s. 14.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.
cytat za „Cavarly Journal”, wrzesień 1933.
Źródło: Robert Debs Heinl, Dictionary of military and naval quotations http://books.google.pl/books?id=tg8xIiEfFL0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Naval Institute Press, 1966, s. 178.

odpowiedź bratankowi na temat obfitości swych wypowiedzi w bluźnierstwa.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. (ang.)
Źródło: Ladislas Farago, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph http://books.google.pl/books?id=o2cqAAAAYAAJ&q=It+is+foolish+and+wrong+to+mourn+the+men+who+died.+Rather+we+should+thank+God+that+such+men+lived.&dq=It+is+foolish+and+wrong+to+mourn+the+men+who+died.+Rather+we+should+thank+God+that+such+men+lived.&hl=pl&ei=UTGWTL6ZKofGswaSuOla&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAjge, Astor-Honor, 1964.

Źródło: z przemówienia do żołnierzy 3. Armii, 5 czerwca 1944

Źródło: anegdota z książki Sarah Bradford The reluctant king: the life & reign of George VI, 1895–1952, St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

There are four hundred neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily. All because one man went to sleep on the job. But they are German graves, because we caught the bastard asleep before they did.
Źródło: Charles M. Province, The unknown Patton http://books.google.pl/books?id=yXshAAAAMAAJ&q=There+are+four+hundred+neatly+marked+graves+somewhere+in+Sicily.+All+because+one+man+went+to+sleep+on+the+job.+But+they+are+German+graves,+because+we+caught+the+bastard+asleep+before+they+did.&dq=There+are+four+hundred+neatly+marked+graves+somewhere+in+Sicily.+All+because+one+man+went+to+sleep+on+the+job.+But+they+are+German+graves,+because+we+caught+the+bastard+asleep+before+they+did.&hl=pl&ei=k5yZTIXPJYKWswbbtM2RDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCQ, Hippocrene Books, 1983, s. 33.

Już od trzech godzin nie mam od niego meldunku”.

He told me, laughing, that if his corps got in between a German and Russian army, they would have difficulty in deciding which they wanted to fight the most.
Patton opisuje spotkanie z Władysławem Andersem w Afryce 17 grudnia 1943.
Źródło: G.S. Patton, Paul Donal Harkins, War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. 80.

Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man. (ang.)
Źródło: William Weir, 50 Military Leaders Who Changed the World http://books.google.pl/books?id=b-aEtt4DnDAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Career Press, 2006, s. 173.

Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen. (ang.)
Źródło: The Patton speech [w:] Tim Ripley, Patton Unleashed: Pattons Third Army and the Breakout from Normandy http://books.google.pl/books?id=eXp-tRBGSRoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0, Zenith Imprint, 2003, s. 12.

do Dwighta Davida "Ike'a" Eisenhowera po wkroczeniu do Paryża w 1944
Źródło: Nigel Cawthorne, Dowódcy i generałowie. Prawdziwe historie, Grupa Wydawnicza Foksal, Warszawa, 2014, s. 171

All Nazis are bad, but all Germans are not Nazis.
o jego niechęci do oficjalnej polityki denazyfikacji Niemiec.
Źródło: G.S. Patton, Martin Blumenson, The Patton Papers: 1940–1945, Da Capo Press, 1996, s. 707.

o karabinie samopowtarzalnym M1 Garand.

odpowiedź żołnierza 3 Armii Amerykańskiej na pytanie, czy znał generała Pattona.
Źródło: Genius for War

The enemy’s rear is the happy hunting ground for armor. Use every means to get it there. (ang.)
Źródło: G.S. Patton, P.D. Harkins War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. 413.

Eisenhower do Pattona tuż po tym, jak otrzymał promocje na „czterogwiazdkowego” generała i Niemcy rozpoczęli kontrofensywę w Ardenach.

Bradley is a man of great mediocrity. On the other hand, he has many attributes which are considered desirable in a general. He wears glasses; he has a strong jaw; he talks profoundly and says little; and he is a shooting companion of the Chief of Staff.
o generale Bradleyu.
Źródło: Charles M. Province, The unknown Patton http://books.google.pl/books?id=yXshAAAAMAAJ&q=Bradley+is+a+man+of+great+mediocrity.+On+the+other+hand,+he+has+many+attributes+which+are+considered+desirable+in+a+general.+He+wears+glasses%3B+he+has+a+strong+jaw%3B+he+talks+profoundly+and+says+little%3B+and+he+is+a+shooting+companion+of+the+Chief+of+Staff&dq=Bradley+is+a+man+of+great+mediocrity.+On+the+other+hand,+he+has+many+attributes+which+are+considered+desirable+in+a+general.+He+wears+glasses%3B+he+has+a+strong+jaw%3B+he+talks+profoundly+and+says+little%3B+and+he+is+a+shooting+companion+of+the+Chief+of+Staff&hl=pl&ei=3NiiTKfZEcWOswbimLSKBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA, Hippocrene Books, 1983, s. 143.

If you’re a leader, you don’t push wet spaghetti, you pull it. The U.S. Army still has to learn that. The British understand it. Patton understood it. I always admired Patton. Oh, sure, the stupid bastard was crazy. He was insane. He thought he was living in the Dark Ages. Soldiers were peasants to him. I didn’t like that attitude, but I certainly respected his theories and the techniques he used to get his men out of their foxholes.
Źródło: Bill Mauldin, amerykański rysownik w książce autobiograficznej The Brass Ring (1971)

The Flag is to the Patriot what the Cross is to the Christian. (ang.)
Źródło: Martin Blumenson, The Patton papers http://books.google.pl/books?ei=XnyhTMyNNY_Lswa597iKBQ&ct=result&id=lDEJAQAAIAAJ&dq=The+Flag+is+to+the+Patriot+what+the+Cross+is+to+the+Christian+patton&q=The+Flag+is+to+the+Patriot+what+the+Cross+is+to+the+Christian, Houghton Mifflin, 1974, s. 732.

There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is: „To so use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum time.”
Źródło: G.S. Patton, P.D. Harkins War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. 405.

instrukcje dla oddziału rozpoznania.

My men can eat their belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas.
Patton do generała Eisenhowera o zasoby benzyny dla jego czołgów.

Have taken Trier with two divisions. What do you want me to do? Give it back? (ang.)
po otrzymaniu wiadomości od Bradleya mówiącej o tym, aby obszedł Trewir, gdyż na jego zdobycie będą potrzebne przynajmniej trzy dywizje.
Źródło: G.S. Patton, Paul Donal Harkins, War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. XX.

Źródło: Stephen Clarke, 1000 lat wkurzania Francuzów, Wydawnictwo WAB, Warszawa 2012, s. 448, tłum. Stanisław Kroszczyński.

I am a soldier. I fight wherever I’m told to go, and wherever I fight, I win.
komentarz Pattona na naradzie generałów u Eisenhowera w Verdun 19 grudnia 1944.
Źródło: A.S.O.R.L., S.I.L.-Gare, C.E.B.A., Comité luxembourgeois de la Voie de la liberté, Liberty Road in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, 1944–1994 http://books.google.pl/books?id=lpSfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22I+am+a+soldier.+I+fight+wherever+I'm+told+to+go,+and+wherever+I+fight,+I+win%22&dq=%22I+am+a+soldier.+I+fight+wherever+I'm+told+to+go,+and+wherever+I+fight,+I+win%22&hl=pl&ei=sH6hTMrtO4HGswb5-6CKBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA, Comité luxembourgeois de la Voie de la liberté, 1994, s. 26.

All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this army plays a vital role. Don’t ever let up. Don’t ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. (ang.)
Źródło: The Patton speech [w:] Tim Ripley, Patton Unleashed: Pattons Third Army and the Breakout from Normandy http://books.google.pl/books?id=eXp-tRBGSRoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0, Zenith Imprint, 2003, s. 14.

A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood. (ang.)
list z 3 marca 1944 r., później opublikowany w War as I knew it.
Źródło: G.S. Patton, P.D. Harkins War as I knew it http://books.google.pl/books?id=2A4BPpDQTfcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995, s. 405.

An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horseshit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the "Saturday Evening Post" don’t know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about fucking! (ang.)
Źródło: Steve Israel, Charge!: history’s greatest military speeches http://books.google.pl/books?id=ziDDH-BEcVMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, Naval Institute Press, 2007, s. 201.