Famous (or infamous, depending on your politics) pep talks, real and fictional:

• Gen. George S. Patton’s speech to the U.S. Third Army on the eve of D-Day;

• William Wallace’s “They may take our lives, but they will never our freedom” battlefield address;

• House Speaker John Boehner’s “knock the sh*t out of them” pep talk to his Republican caucus last week.

Will a recent motivational memo join this list?

Following a round of layoffs at the Los Angeles Times, Ashley Dunn, the paper’s California editor, sent a memo to inspire the surviving employees. Here’s a taste:

For those of us still here, the hard task ahead is getting back to the business of reporting the news. It feels like rushing back into battle after a hellacious ass whipping. To those who are understandably feeling a bit down, I say: We don’t get our asses whipped, we whip asses. We don’t get ulcers, we give ulcers.”

Quite a pep talk. Read the full memo at FishBowlLA.