"Often I have encountered in life that great disappointments have proved to be the road to future successes."
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General Patton's Principles for Life and Leadership
(from the book by the same name)
Command and Management
Any man who thinks he is indispensable, ain’t.
People must have authority to match responsibility.
Commanders must command.
Health
An active mind cannot exist in an inactive body.
Always make the mind command the body.
To gain strength, always go beyond exhaustion.
Pride and Confidence
Pride in self starts with pride in appearance.
Do not be afraid to fail.
Never take counsel of your fears.
Decision Making
Grab’m by the nose and kick’m in the pants!
If everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking.
In the long run, it is what we do not say that will destroy us.
Victory and Success
The way to win is to never lose!
Never fight a battle unless you will gain by winning.
Success is not getting on top; it’s how you bounce on the bottom.
Life and Death
Death can be more exciting than life.
Live for something rather than die for nothing.
Fear kills more people than death.
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Patton's Maxims
A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.
A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.
By perseverance, study, and eternal desire, any man can become great.
Do everything you ask of those you command.
Do more than is required of you.
Do not take counsel of your fears.
Give credit where it’s due.
Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.
Haste and speed are not synonymous.
I prefer a loyal staff officer to a brilliant one.
In case of doubt, attack.
It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.
Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction.
Make your plans to fit the circumstances.
Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.
Never let the enemy pick the battle site.
No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.
Officers must assert themselves by example and voice.
Say what you mean and mean what you say.
Select leaders for accomplishment, not for affection.
Success is how you bounce on the bottom.
Take calculated risks.
The leader must be an actor.
The more senior the leader, the more time he has to go to the front.
The only thing to do when a son-of-a-bitch looks cross-eyed at you is to beat the hell out of him right then and there.
The soldier is the army.
The only tactical principle which is not subject to change; it is, “To use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."
There is only one type of discipline, perfect discipline.
War is simple, direct, and ruthless.
We can never get anything across unless we talk the language of the people we are trying to instruct.
You’re never beaten until you admit it.
