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About this quote

What does it mean?
Negligence costs lives; vigilance prevents disaster.
In plain terms
One person sleeping on the job can kill many.
What can you take from it?
Stay awake and alert to save lives.

Where it applies

  • security
  • medical
  • industrial safety

Putting it to work

  • stay alert
  • check protocols
  • take responsibility

Questions to consider

  • What could go wrong?
  • Are you fully focused?

Another view

Even with alertness, some failures are unavoidable.

More from George S. Patton

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  2. An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of s…

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  3. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen.

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