Bill Mauldin Quotes

1921–2003 United States

William Henry Mauldin (29 October 1921 – 22 January 2003) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from the United States, who became famous for his "Willie and Joe" cartoons during World War II.

United States
Cartoonists
Satirists

Random Bill Mauldin quote

16 quotes

I was a born troublemaker and might as well earn a living at it.

The Brass Ring (1971)

Humor is really laughing off a hurt, grinning at misery.

No normal man who has smelled and associated with death ever wants to see any more of it.

Up Front (1945)

If you're a leader, you don't push wet spaghetti, you pull it.

The Brass Ring (1971)

I'm convinced that the infantry is the group in the army which gives more and gets less than anybody else.

Up Front (1945)

Certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counterrevolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.

Back Home (1947)

I always admired Patton. Oh, sure, the stupid bastard was crazy.

The Brass Ring (1971)

My outlook on warfare is best illustrated by a cartoon I did some thirty-odd years ago of a soldier in an Italian foxhole reading about the Normandy invasion and observing to his buddy that: "The hell this ain't the most important hole in the world. I'm in it."

Mud & Guts : A Look at the Common Soldier of the American Revolution (1978)

Soldiers were peasants to him. I didn't like that attitude, but I certainly respected his theories and the techniques he used to get his men out of their foxholes.

The Brass Ring (1971)

One of my principles is, Thou shall not bully. The only answer is to muscle the bully. I'm very combative that way.

The Good War (1985)

Patton was living in the Dark Ages. Soldiers were peasants to him. I didn't like that attitude.

We [Americans] never really did have a real sense of humor. Not satire, anyway. We're a fatheaded, cotton-picking society. When we realize finally that we aren't God's given children, we'll understand satire.

I would like to thank the people who encouraged me to draw army cartoons at a time when the gag man's conception of the army was one of mean ole sergents and jeeps which jump over mountains.

Up Front (1945)

You've got to be a misanthrope in this business, a real son of a bitch. I'm touchy. I've got raw nerve ends, and I'll jump. If I see a stuffed shirt, I want to punch it.

They are rough and their language gets coarse because they live a life stripped of convention and niceties.
Their nobility and dignity come from the way they live unselfishly and risk their lives to help each other.

Up Front (1945)

While a guy at home is sweating over his income tax and Victory garden, a dogface somewhere is getting great joy out of wiggling his little finger. He does it just to see it move and to prove to himself that he is still alive and able to move it.

Up Front (1945)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Bill Mauldin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.