Quotes by Naval Officers

Every man paddles his own canoe.
Frederick Marryat
Moderation in war is imbecility.
Admiral John Fisher
All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them but confront them.
William F. Halsey
Grant me the courage not to give up even though I think it is hopeless.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right but our country right or wrong.
Stephen Decatur
Dollars cannot buy yesterday.
Admiral Harold R. Stark
Moderation in war is imbecility.
Admiral John Fisher
All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them but confront them.
William F. Halsey
Grant me the courage not to give up even though I think it is hopeless.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right but our country right or wrong.
Stephen Decatur
Dollars cannot buy yesterday.
Admiral Harold R. Stark
One of the best safeguards of our hopes I have suggested is to be able to mark off the areas of hopelessness and to acknowledge them to face them directly not with despair but with the creative intent of keeping them from polluting all the areas of possibility.
William F. Lynch
After a battle is over people talk a lot about how decisions were methodically reached but actually there's always a hell of a lot of groping around.
Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them but confront them.
William F. Halsey
Moderation in war is imbecility.
Admiral John Fisher
If a ship has been sunk I can't bring it up. If it is going to be sunk I can't stop it. I can use my time much better working on tomorrow's problem than by fretting about yesterday's. Besides if I let those things get me I wouldn't last long.
Admiral Ernest J. King
There is no quality of human nature so nearly royal as the ability to yield gracefully.
Charles Conrad
Security is not a license for people in authority to hide tactics they would never openly admit to using.
John G. Hemry
Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads or you learn nothing. Don’t push out figures when facts are going in the opposite direction.
Hyman G. Rickover
The reason we call ships "she" is that it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.
Chester W. Nimitz
... secrecy adds a charm to an amour ...
Frederick Marryat
Poor men ... always make love better than those who are rich, because, having less to care about, and not being puffed up with their own consequence, they are not so selfish and think much more of the lady than of themselves.
Frederick Marryat
The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world.
Admiral William Halsey
Nuclear deterrence will remain a vital aspect of security. or Nuclear deterrence will have a smaller role in future security.Sources are split in their assessment of the importance of nuclear weapons and the validity of traditional nuclear deterrence in the 2001 - 2015 period. On the one hand are those who see nuclear weapons as decreasingly effective tools in deterring war. On the other are those experts who concede that nuclear weapons may have a different role than at the height of the Cold War, but who argue that they remain the ultimate deterrent, with considerable effect on the actions of even rogue states.Many experts who state a moral opposition to nuclear weapons have translated this into forecasts of a globalized world in which nuclear deterrence no longer makes sense. With greater economic interdependence, this argument runs, even the so-called "rogue states" will be reconciled to the international order, renouncing or reducing their overt or covert nuclear arsenals.
Sam J. Tangredi
It was painful to consider that the nation which could produce the world's greatest battleships was unable under pressure to produce a single satisfactory torpedo boat.
Tameichi Hara
More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution; rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.
Hyman G. Rickover
I am learning that man can live profoundly without masses of things.
Richard Byrd
Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.
Hyman G. Rickover
Whose destinies can be in these stars, which appear not to those who inhabit the northern regions?' said Amine, as she cast her eyes above, and watched them in their brightness; 'and what does that falling meteor portend? What causes its rapid descent from heaven?''Do you then put faith in stars, Amine?''In Araby we do; and why not? They were not spread over the sky to give light—for what then?''To beautify the world. They have their uses, too.''Then you agree with me—they have their uses, and the destinies of men are there concealed. My mother was one of those who could read them well. Alas! For me they are a sealed book.''Is it not better so, Amine?''Better!—say better to grovel on this earth with our selfish, humbled race, wandering in mystery and awe, and doubt, when we can communicate with the intelligences above! Does not the soul leap at her admission to confer with superior powers? Does not the proud heart bound at the feeling that its owner is one of those more gifted than the usual race of mortals? Is it not a noble ambition?''A dangerous one—most dangerous.''And therefore most noble. They seem as if they would speak to me; look at yon bright star—it beckons to me.
Frederick Marryat
In the course of crime ... the descent is rapid.
Frederick Marryat
Part of me remained forever at Latitude 80 degrees 08 minutes South: what survived of my youth, my vanity, perhaps, and certainly my skepticism. On the other hand, I did take away something that I had not fully possessed before: appreciation of the sheer beauty and miracle of being alive, and a humble set of values. All this happened four years ago. Civilization has not altered my ideas. I live more simply now, and with more peace.
Richard E. Byrd
Come, my men! never say die while there's a shot in the locker.
Frederick Marryat
Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.
Hyman G. Rickover
If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't.
Hyman G. Rickover
You speak of the good conduct of your ancestors. As your own conduct is under discussion, and not theirs, I cannot see how their former good character can at all serve your present purpose. Fortunately for our country, every man stands upon his own merit.
Stephen Decatur
What it takes to do a job will not be learned from management courses. It is principally a matter of experience, the proper attitude, and common sense — none of which can be taught in a classroom... Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done.
Hyman G. Rickover
Humans had spent thousands of years climbing out of caves and building technology so they could reach the moon and live in caves again.
John G. Hemry
Thus was this expedition finished...after having, by its event, strongly evinced this important truth; that though prudence, intrepidity and perseverence united are not exempted from the blows of adverse fortune, yet in a long series of transactions they usually rise superior to its power, and in the end rarely fail of proving successful.Voyage Around The World, 1751
George Anson
We communed together a moment, one with the other—I was deeply fascinated. At our first encounter I am sure I had a nebulous presentiment that I would one day go to it in spite of my hesitation, in spite of all the efforts put forth to hold me back,—and the emotion that overwhelmed me in the presence of the sea was not only one of fear, but I felt also an inexpressible sadness, and I seemed to feel the anguish of desolation, bereavement and exile. With downcast mien, and with hair blown about by the wind, I turned and ran home. I was in the extreme haste to be with my mother; I wished to embrace her and to cling close to her; I desired to be with her so that she might console me for the thousand indefinite, anticipated sorrows that surged through my heart at the sight of those green waters, so vast and so deep.
Pierre Loti
Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man".
Russell Beland
I asked God for strength that I might achieve. I was made weak that I might learn to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy. I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
Chester Nimitz
To those who have been accustomed to the difficulties and dangers of a sea-faring life, there are no lines which speak more forcibly to the imagination, or prove the beauty and power of the Greek poet, than those in the noble prayer of Ajax:"Lord of earth and air,O king! O father! hear my humble prayer.Dispel this cloud, that light of heaven restore;Give me to see - and Ajax asks no more,If Greece must perish - we Thy will obey;But let us perish in the face of day!
Frederick Marryat
Now comes the reign of iron — and cased sloops are to take the place of wooden ships.
John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren
Act as if you are going to live for ever and cast your plans way ahead. You must feel responsible without time limitations, and the consideration of whether you may or may not be around to see the results should never enter your thoughts.
Hyman George Rickover
Young ladies ... who fall in love, never consider whether there is sufficient "to make the pot boil" - probably because young ladies in love lose their appetites, and, not feeling inclined to eat at that time, they imagine that love will always supply the want of food.
Frederick Marryat
When doing a job — any job — one must feel that he owns it, and act as though he will remain in that job forever.
Hyman G. Rickover
Remember... start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when times are toughest, face down the bullies, life up the downtrodden, and never, ever give up - if you do these things, then you can change your life for the better... and maybe the world!
Admiral William H. McRaven
I paused to listen to the silence. My breath, crystallized as it passed my cheeks, drifted on a breeze gentler than a whisper. The wind vane pointed toward the South Pole. Presently the wind cups ceased their gentle turning as the cold killed the breeze. My frozen breath hung like a cloud overhead. The day was dying, the night being born — but with great peace. Here were the imponderable processes and forces of the cosmos, harmonious and soundless. Harmony, that was it! That was what came out of the silence — a gentle rhythm, the strain of a perfect chord, the music of the spheres, perhaps.It was enough to catch that rhythm, momentarily to be myself a part of it. In that instant I could feel no doubt of man's oneness with the universe. The conviction came that the rhythm was too orderly, too harmonious, too perfect to be a product of blind chance — that, therefore, there must be purpose in the whole and that man was part of that whole and not an accidental offshoot. It was a feeling that transcended reason; that went to the heart of man's despair and found it groundless. The universe was a cosmos, not a chaos; man was rightfully a part of that cosmos as were the day and night.
Richard Evelyn Byrd
You manage things, you lead people.
Admiral Grace Hopper
Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.
Hymann Rickover
I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can make a difference. We must live for the future of the human race, and not for our own comfort or success.
Hyman G. Rickover
I have the charisma of the chipmunk. I never have thought I was smart. I thought the people I dealt with were dumb.
Hyman George Rickover
My position as a follower of God is not to show you how close I am to God—my job is to show you how close you are to God […]. (Simon)
Pete Conrad
The Battle of Normandy was won on the beaches of Dieppe
Louis Mountbatten
I suffer from the congenital weakness of believing I can do anything.
Louis Mountbatten
Success teaches us nothing only failure teaches.
Hyman G. Rickover
Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one's arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page.
Hyman G. Rickover
God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right, even though I think it is hopeless.
Chester Nimitz