A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon — it won't work and you can't fire it.

Patton’s comparison casts the civil servant as an immovable piece of equipment: once “broken,” it neither performs its intended function nor can it be easily removed from service. The barb reflects a commander’s frustration with bureaucratic inertia—procedures, tenure, and institutional protections that can keep ineffective officials in place even when their performance hinders urgent action. In military terms, a malfunctioning cannon is doubly costly: it fails at the decisive moment and still occupies space and resources. The line thus argues for accountability and replaceability in administration, privileging operational effectiveness over permanence and red tape.