as delivered by George
C. Scott
from the screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North
Patton
(1970)
General Patton Speech at Los Angeles - June
12, 1945 (original)
George C. Scott version of the Patton speech
(movie version)
I want you to remember that no bastard ever won
a war by dying for his country. He won
it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
Men, all this stuff you've heard about America
not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war is a lot of horse
dung. Americans traditionally love to
fight. All real Americans love the
sting of battle.
When you were kids you all admired the champion
marble shooter, the fastest runner, big-league ball players, the toughest
boxers.
Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a
loser.
Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who
lost and laughed. That's why Americans
have never lost and will never lose a war because the very thought of losing is
hateful to Americans.
Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a
team. This individuality stuff is a
bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who
wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don't know
anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating.
Now we have the finest food and equipment, the
best spirit and the best men in the world.
You know, by God, I actually pity those poor
bastards we're going up against. By God,
I do. We're not just going to shoot the
bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the
treads of our tanks. We're going to
murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel.
Now, some of you boys I know are wondering
whether or not you'll chicken out under fire.
Don't worry about it. I can
assure you that you will all do your duty.
The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them! Spill their blood! Shoot
them in the belly! When you put your
hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face,
you'll know what to do.
Now there's another thing I want you to
remember. I don't want to get any
messages saying we are "holding our position." We're not "holding" anything. Let the Hun do that. We're advancing constantly. We're not
interested in holding on to anything except the enemy. We're going to hold on to him by the nose
and kick him in the ass. We're going to
kick the hell out of him all the time and we're going to go through him like
crap through a goose!
Now, there's one thing that you men will be able
to say when you get back home. And you
may thank God for it.
Thirty years from now when you're sitting around
your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you "What did
you do in the great World War ll?"
You won't have to say "Well, I shovelled shit in Louisiana. "
All right, now, you sons of bitches you know how
I feel. I will be proud to lead you
wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere.
That's all.
Audio & video of the speech from the movie Patton (1970)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechpatton3rdarmyaddress.html