Quote #43

Kill all the Germans you can, but do not kill them when they are up against a wall ready to surrender. Do your killing in the fields. We are to honor the Rules of Land Warfare at all times. If a German surrenders, he is to be treated with respect as a prisoner of war, the same treatment you would hope to get as a prisoner if you are unlucky enough to be captured by the enemy. Americans are not savages. Americans do not kick people in the face if they have been knocked down.

More from George S. Patton

  1. Just drive down that road until you get blown up.
  2. March toward the sound of gunfire, an easily recognizable sound that they could usually find in front of them.
  3. It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
  4. May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I sure as hell won't.
  5. I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.
  6. Men are at war with each other because each man is at war with himself.
  7. I'm not going to subsidize cowardice.
  8. Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.

All George S. Patton quotes