General George S. Patton’s Speech to the Third Army
“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” Gen. George S. Patton
I was stumbling around the internet when I happened across the full text of Gen. George Patton’s famous speech to the Third Army. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but up until about fifteen minutes ago, my only knowledge of this oratory marvel came from anecdotes and the film Patton starring George C. Scott.
In truth, it was nothing I didn’t expect. Patton crammed enough violent imagery and profanity into that address as humanly possible and spoke with the hyperbolic sense of patriotism one expects from a general in the United States Army. Don’t misconstrue my words, please. There isn’t anything wrong with patriotism, and indeed, it is to be commended when applied rationally, but patriotic sentiment was monopolized long ago by a contingent of … Read more
