“Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.”

This is cited to Patton in Patton's Principles : A Handbook for Managers Who Mean It! (1982) by Porter B. Williamson as well as Leadership (1990) by William Safire and Leonard Safir, p. 47, but is also cited to Erwin Rommel‎ from his Infanterie Greift An [Infantry Attacks] (1937) in World War II : The Definitive Visual History (2009) by Richard Holmes, p. 128, and Timelines of History (2011) by DK Publishing, p. 392
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George S. Patton photo
George S. Patton 77
United States Army general 1885–1945

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Erwin Rommel photo

“Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.”

Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German field marshal of World War II

This is cited to to Rommel‎'s Infanterie Greift An [Infantry Attacks] (1937) in World War II : The Definitive Visual History (2009) by Richard Holmes, p. 128, and Timelines of History (2011) by DK Publishing, p. 392, but to George S. Patton, in Patton's Principles : A Handbook for Managers Who Mean It! (1982) by Porter B. Williamson as well as Leadership (1990) by William Safire and Leonard Safir, p. 47
Disputed
Source: Rommel: In His Own Words

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“You don't have to win every fight. You don't have to fight every fight. But you DO have to stand for something.”

Ted Cruz (1970) American politician

Source: #‎DefundPlannedParenthood‬: https://www.tedcruz.org/l/defund-planned-parenthood/ On Facebook September 29, 2015.

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“A beautiful battle is one you don't have to fight.”

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“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

This quote is widely attributed to Margaret Thatcher on various websites, and also appears in a number of books, including The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press (1989), ed. Robert Andrews, p. 320 : ISBN 0231069901. 9780231069908 , but without any further source information such as date, location or any other context.
One valid Thatcher quote which may be the basis for the version above appears in the Second Carlton Lecture http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105799 (‘Why Democracy Will Last’), delivered at the Carlton Club, London (November 26, 1984) : Mr. Chairman, each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can’t take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew. You know that marvellous quotation from Goethe : ‘That which thy fathers bequeathed thee / Earn it anew if thou would possess it.’
Thatcher also expressed this thought in a Speech to Atlantic Bridge (May 14, 2003) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111266, delivered at the St. Regis Hotel, New York City : My friends, every generation has to fight anew the battle for liberty.
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“Having made pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat the same, you engage in battle for the sake of battle; thus you shell win and not incur sin.”

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Bhagavad Gita, Ch II, verse 38
Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Ch. I-VI, 2013

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