A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune. -Unknown Show a brave face. Never let them see how much they've hurt you. -Circle of Friends The hardest to learn is the least complicated. -Indigo Girls We must realize that even in the middle of all the world's humanity, we are still individuals and for the most part we must stand alone. -Javan It's hard to be strong when someone special leaves your life and it doesn't get any easier with practice. -Javan Often times the things we run away from are a lot less horrible than the things we run away to. -Unknown There were times when I wanted to run away. Brief moments, yet painful ones, for in one moment a fire can consume, an avalanche can bury, or a life's decision can be made. -The Loon Feather Only gods and saints run around unafraid. And liars. This is a game. Somebody has to win. Somebody has to lose. And there is so much real in that. And what is it that you're afraid of? That you might lose? What's to lose? -Nike I tell myself that God gave my children many gifts-spirit, beauty, intelligence, the capacity to make friends and to inspire respect...there was only gift He held back-length of life. -Rose Kennedy Reality is something you rise above. -Liza Minelli The pain to leaving those you grow to love is only the prelude to understanding yourself and others. -Shirley MacLaine The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. -Ivy Baker Priest I have great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift. -Septima Clark Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all: "This, too, shall pass." -Ann Landers In order that she may be able to give her hand with dignity, she must be able to stand alone. -Margaret Fuller We're all in this alone. -Lily Tomlin You learn more from ten days of agony than from ten years of pain. -Sally Raphael If you didn't want this and I didn't need it, then why has this interest become an addiction? If you didn't want this, than why can't you do without? -Deep Blue Something Endure, my heart. You once endured something more dreadful. -Homer Space That's one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind. -- Neil Armstrong, first words spoken by a man walking on the moon, 20 July 1969. He didn't realize he had messed up the line until after he got to Earth, according to the book 'Chariots for Apollo' by Charles R. Pellegrino and Joshua Stoff (not the NASA Technical Memorandum on the same subject and with an identical title). It was when presented with a plaque by the builders of the LM that he pointed out their mistake in failing to include the `'a' at which point he was told that the word was not in the tapes. He insisted (at that time) that he had said it. Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me. -- Pete Conrad, the shortest Apollo astronaut, upon becoming the 3rd man to walk on the moon. He came up with these words months before the event, and won a $500 bet proving that NASA didn't write the famous Armstrong quote. A little levity is appropriate in a dangerous trade. -- Walter M. Schirra Jr. Contact light. Okay, engine stop. -- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., first words after landing on the moon. Houston, Tranquillity Base here, the Eagle has landed. -- Neil Armstrong, 3:18 p.m. Houston time July 20, 1969. Roger, Tranquillity. We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. -- Charlie Duke, Capcom, Mission Control, replying. Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes Beholds his hereditary skies. -- Ovid Ad astra, per aspera. To the stars through hardship, motto of the Royal Flying Corps, formed on 13 April 1912. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space. And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. -- President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share. -- President John F. Kennedy ... the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward, and so will space. -- President John F. Kennedy, 1962. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? -- President John F. Kennedy, 1962. If I could get one message to you it would be this: the future of this country and the welfare of the free world depends upon our success in space. There is no room in this country for any but a fully cooperative, urgently motivated all-out effort toward space leadership. No one person, no one company, no one government agency, has a monopoly on the competence, the missions, or the requirements for the space program. -- President Lyndon B. Johnson The United States this week will commit its national pride, eight years of work and $24 billion of its fortune to showing the world it can still fulfill a dream. It will send three young men on a human adventure of mythological proportions with the whole of the civilized world invited to watch - for better or worse. -- Rudy Abramson, Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1969. It is the policy of the United States that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of all mankind. -- U.S. Space Act of 1958. Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go - and he'll do plenty well when he gets there. -- Wernher von Braun It's human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice, really; it's an imperative. -- Michael Collins To go places and do things that have never been done before - that's what living is all about. -- Michael Collins Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. -- Captain James T. Kirk, start of every episode of the original TV series 'Star Trek.' I had the ambition to not only go farther than man had gone before, but to go as far as it was possible to go. -- Captain Cook A-OK full go. -- Commander Alan Shepard Jr., on blast-off of rocket carrying him aloft as America's first man in space, 5 May 1961. Defined as an engineering term for 'double OK' or perfect, it became a U.S. idiom for 'everything is going smoothly' and was later attributed by the Associated Press (New York Times, 31 July, 1963) to Lieutenant-Colonel John Powers, public spokesman for astronauts. What good is the Moon? You can't buy it or sell it. -- Ivan F. Boesky, Wall Street broker convicted of insider trading. This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation. -- Richard M. Nixon, to Apolllo XI crew aboard USS Hornet, 24 July 1969. It's a strange, eerie sensation to fly a lunar landing trajectory - not difficult, but somewhat complex and unforgiving. -- Neil Armstrong Here Men From Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon The Moon July 1969 A.D. We Came In Peace For All Mankind. -- Plaque left on the moon. It's different, but it's very pretty out here. I suppose they are going to make a big deal of all this. -- Neil Armstrong, transmitting from the moon. Neil and Buzz, I am talking to you by telephone from the Oval Office at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made . . . Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world. As you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquillity, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquillity to Earth. -- President Richard M. Nixon. It is a monster, that rocket. It is not a dead animal; it has a life of its own. -- Guenter Wendt This beast is best felt. Shake, rattle, and roll. We are thrown left and right against our straps in spasmodic little jerks. It is steering like crazy, like a nervous lady driving a wide car down a narrow alley, and I just hope it knows where it's going, because for the first ten seconds we are perilously close to that umbilical tower. -- Michael Collins The mass gross absence of sound in space is more than just silence. -- Eugene Cernan You almost wish you could turn off the COMM and just appreciate the deafening quiet. -- Russell Schweickart What the space program needs is more English majors. -- Michael Collins It's not quite as exhilarating a feeling as orbiting the earth, but it's close. In addition, it has an exotic, bizarre quality due entirely to the nature of the surface below. The earth from orbit is a delight - offering visual variety and an emotional feeling of belonging "down there." Not so with this withered, sun-seared peach pit out of my window. There is no comfort to it; it is too stark and barren; its invitation is monotonous and meant for geologists only. -- Michael Collins, 'Carrying the Fire.' To set foot on the soil of the asteroids, to lift by hand a rock from the Moon, to observe Mars from a distance of several tens of kilometers, to land on its satellite or even on its surface, what can be more fantastic? From the moment of using rocket devices a new great era will begin in astronomy: the epoch of the more intensive study of the firmament. -- Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, Father of Russian Astronautics, 1896. The greatest gain from space travel consists in the extension of our knowledge. In a hundred years this newly won knowledge will pay huge and unexpected dividends. -- Professor Wernher von Braun. The real friends of the space voyager are the stars. -- James Lovell "In the Beginning god created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the Deep. . . . And God saw that it was Good. . . . " And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night and a Merry Christmas. And God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth. -- flight crew of Apollo 8, Christmas Eve, 1968. The view of the moon that we've been having recently is really spectacular. It fills about three-quarters of the hatch window, and of course we can see the entire circumference even though part of it is in complete shadow and part of it is in earthshine. It's a view worth the price of the trip. -- Neil Armstrong This blowing dust became increasingly thicker. It was very much like landing in a fast-moving ground fog. -- Neil Armstrong I don't believe any pair of people had been more removed physically from the rest of the world than we were. -- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke, 'Profiles of the Future' (1962; rev. 1973). Program Alarm, it's a 1202. -- Neil Armstrong Roger, we're GO on that alarm -- Houston Capcom. The computer overflowed several more times during the first lunar descent. Armstrong sitting in the commander's seat, spacesuit on, helmet on, plugged into electrical and environmental umbilicals, is a . . . machine himself. -- Norman Mailer Hey Houston we've had a problem here. -- Jack Swigert, Apollo 13 command module pilot. Say again please. -- Jack Lousma, Houston Capcom. Err Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt. -- Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 commander. Outer space is no place for a person of breeding. -- Lady Violet Bonham Carter We believe that when men reach beyond this planet, they should leave their national differences behind them. -- John F. Kennedy, news conference, 21 February 1962. ..space is for everybody. It's not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That's our new frontier out there, and it's everybody's business to know about space. -- Christa McAuliffe, December 6, 1985. One test result is worth one thousand expert opinions -- Wernher von Braun A human being is the best computer available to place in a spacecraft. . . It is also the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor. -- Werner von Braun Our two greatest problems are gravity and paper work. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paper work is over whelming. -- Werner von Braun Man is the animal that intends to shoot himself out into interplanetary space, after having given up on the problem of an efficient way to get himself five miles or so to work and back each day. -- Bill Vaughan, quoted in 'Reader's Digest,' January 1956. Ten years ago the moon was an inspiration to poets and an opportunity for lovers. Ten years from now it will be just another airport. -- Emmanuel G. Mesthene Once you get to earth orbit, you're halfway to anywhere in the solar system. -- Robert A. Heinlein I have argued flying saucers with lots of people. I was interested in this: they keep arguing that it is possible. And that's true. It is possible. They do not appreciate that the problem is not to demonstrate whether it's possible or not but whether it's going on or not. -- Richard Feynman Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. -- Arthur C. Clarke Houston, Apollo 11 . . . I've got the world in my window. -- Michael Collins I really didn't appreciate the first planet [earth] until I saw the second one. . . . I cannot recall [the moon's] tortured surface without thinking of the infinite variety the delightful planet earth offers. -- Michael Collins We used to joke about canned men, putting people in a can and seeing how far you can send them and bring them back. That's not the purpose of this program... Space is a laboratory, and we go into it to work and learn the new. -- John Glenn Jr. To get your name well enough known that you can run for a public office, some people do it by being great lawyers or philanthropists or business people or work their way up the political ladder. I happened to become known from a different route. -- John Glenn Jr. It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract. -- Alan Shepherd You're in charge but don't touch the controls. -- Shannon Lucid, recounting what the two Russian cosmonauts told her every time they left the Mir space station for a spacewalk, 1996. The only thing it would be nice to have more of would be M & M's. -- Shannon Lucid, after 6 months on Space Station Mir, 1996. It's time for the human race to enter the solar system. -- Vice President of the U.S. Dan Quayle Why our space program? Why, indeed, did we trouble to look past the next mountain? Our prime obligation to ourselves is to make the unknown known. We are on a journey to keep an appointment with whatever we are. -- Gene Roddenberry Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention and the first wave of nuclear power. And this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be part of it - we mean to lead it. -- President John F. Kennedy. We still possess the greatest gift of the inheritance of a four-hundred-year-long Renaissance: To wit, the capacity to initiate another by opening the Martian frontier. -- Robert Zubrin, 'The Case for Mars.' For forty-nine months between 1968 and 1972 two dozen Americans had the great good fortune to briefly visit the Moon. Half of us became the first emissaries from Earth to tread its' dusty surface. We who did so were privileged to represent the hopes and dreams of all humanity. For mankind it was a giant leap for a species that evolved from the stone age to create sophisticated rockets and spacecraft that made a Moon landing possible. For one crowning moment, we were creatures of the cosmic ocean, an epoch that a thousand years hence may be seen as the signature of our century. -- Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. Combat Good flying never killed [an enemy] yet. -- Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock, RAF. There are only two types of aircraft -- fighters and targets. -- Doyle 'Wahoo' Nicholson, USMC. Up there the world is divided into bastards and suckers. Make your choice. -- Derek Robinson, 'Piece of Cake.' The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down. -- General Chuck Yeager, USAF, describing his first confrontation with a Me262. Of all my accomplishments I may have achieved during the war, I am proudest of the fact that I never lost a wingman. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, GAF, aka Karaya One, worlds leading ace, 352 victories in W.W.II. It was my view that no kill was worth the life of a wingman. . . . Pilots in my unit who lost wingmen on this basis were prohibited from leading a [section]. The were made to fly as wingman, instead. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, GAF. There is a peculiar gratification on receiving congratulations from one's squadron for a victory in the air. It is worth more to a pilot than the applause of the whole outside world. It means that one has won the confidence of men who share the misgivings, the aspirations, the trials and the dangers of aeroplane fighting. -- Captain Edward V. 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, USAS. Nothing makes a man more aware of his capabilities and of his limitations than those moments when he must push aside all the familiar defenses of ego and vanity, and accept reality by staring, with the fear that is normal to a man in combat, into the face of Death. -- Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAF. Willie, how long can you tread water? -- Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN, after his and Willie's F-4 took a missile hit over NVN and he dashed for the coast. It is probable that future war will be conducted by a special class, the air force, as it was by the armored Knights of the Middle Ages. -- Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, 'Winged Defense,' 1924. The duty of the fighter pilot is to patrol his area of the sky, and shoot down any enemy fighters in that area. Anything else is rubbish. -- Captain Manfred Baron Manfred von Richtofen, 1917. Richtofen would not let members of his Staffel strafe troops in the trenches. Anybody who doesn't have fear is an idiot. It's just that you must make the fear work for you. Hell when somebody shot at me, it made me madder than hell, and all I wanted to do was shoot back. -- General Robin Olds, USAF. The most important thing in fighting was shooting, next the various tactics in coming into a fight and last of all flying ability itself. -- Lt. Colonel W. A. 'Billy' Bishop, RAF. In nearly all cases where machines have been downed, it was during a fight which had been very short, and the successful burst of fire had occurred within the space of a minute after the beginning of actual hostilities. -- Lt. Colonel W. A. 'Billy' Bishop, RAF. I fly close to my man, aim well and then of course he falls down. -- Captain Oswald Boelcke, probably the world's first ace. Aerial gunnery is 90 percent instinct and 10 percent aim. -- Captain Frederick C. Libby, RFC. I had no system of shooting as such. It is definitely more in the feeling side of things that these skills develop. I was at the front five and a half years, and you just got a feeling for the right amount of lead. -- Lt. General Guenther Rall, GAF. When one has shot down one's first, second or third opponent, then one begins to find out how the trick is done. -- Baron Manfred von Richtofen. You can have computer sights of anything you like, but I think you have to go to the enemy on the shortest distance and knock him down from point-blank range. You'll get him from in close. At long distance, it's questionable. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, GAF. I am not a good shot. Few of us are. To make up for this I hold my fire until I have a shot of less than 20 degrees deflection and until I'm within 300 yards. Good discipline on this score can make up for a great deal. -- Lt. Colonel John C. Meyer, USAAF. Go in close, and when you think you are too close, go in closer. -- Major Thomas B. 'Tommy' McGuire, USAAF. I opened fire when the whole windshield was black with the enemy . . . at minimum range . . . it doesn't matter what your angle is to him or whether you are in a turn or any other maneuver. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, GAF. As long as I look into the muzzles, nothing can happen to me. Only if he pulls lead am I in danger. -- Captain Hans-Joachim Marseille, Luftwaffe. Everything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one-seater . . . is lost, for it cannot shoot to the rear. -- Baron Manfred von Richthofen I started shooting when I was much too far away. That was merely a trick of mine. I did not mean so much as to hit him as to frighten him, and I succeeded in catching him. He began flying curves and this enabled me to draw near. -- Baron Manfred von Richthofen A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing. -- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF. See, decide, attack, reverse. -- Major Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe. So it was that the war in the air began. Men rode upon the whirlwind that night and slew and fell like archangels. The sky rained heroes upon the astonished earth. Surely the last fights of mankind were the best. What was the heavy pounding of your Homeric swordsmen, what was the creaking charge of chariots, besides this swift rush, this crash, this giddy triumph, this headlong sweep to death? -- H. G. Wells, 'The World Set Free,' 1914. I was a pilot flying an airplane and it just so happened that where I was flying made what I was doing spying. -- Francis Gary Power, U-2 reconnaissance pilot held by the Soviets for spying, in an interview after he was returned to the US. The Yo-Yo is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English. -- Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF. . . . my pilot pointed to his left front and above, and looking in the direction he pointed, I saw a long dark brown form fairly streaking across the sky. We could see that it was a German machine, and when it got above and behind our middle machine, it dived on it for all the world like a huge hawk on a hapless sparrow. -- James McCudden Fighting spirit one must have. Even if a man lacks some of the other qualifications, he can often make up for it in fighting spirit. -- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF. I never went into the air thinking I would lose. -- Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN. Speed is life. -- Anon. Speed is the cushion of sloppiness. -- Commander William P. 'Willie' Driscoll, USNR. Aggressiveness was a fundamental to success in air-to-air combat and if you ever caught a fighter pilot in a defensive mood you had him licked before you started shooting. -- Captain David McCampbell, USN, leading U.S. Navy ace in W.W.II. The smallest amount of vanity is fatal in aeroplane fighting. Self-distrust rather is the quality to which many a pilot owes his protracted existence. -- Captain Edward V. 'Eddie' Rickenbacker. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. -- Mohammed Ali (nee Cassius Clay). A good fighter pilot, like a good boxer, should have a knockout punch . . . You will find one attack you prefer to all others. Work on it till you can do it to perfection . . . then use it whenever possible. -- Captain Reade Tilley, USAAF. You fight like you train. -- Motto of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN. Fight to fly, fly to fight, fight to win. -- Motto of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN. The first rule of all air combat is to see the opponent first. Like the hunter who stalks his prey and maneuvers himself unnoticed into the most favourable position for the kill, the fighter in the opening of a dogfight must detect the opponent as early as possible in order to attain a superior position for the attack. -- Lt. General Adolph Galand, Luftwaffe. If you're in a fair fight, you didn't plan it properly. -- Nick Lappos, Chief R&D Pilot, Sikorsky Aircraft. The British were sporting. They would accept a fight under almost all conditions. -- Gunther Rall, Luftwaffe, 275 victories. A squadron commander who sits in his tent and gives orders and does not fly, though he may have the brains of Soloman, will never get the results that a man will, who, day in and day out, leads his patrols over the line and infuses into his pilots the 'espirit de corps.' -- Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, USAS. I saw the lightnings gleaming rod. Reach forth and write upon the sky The awful autograph of God. -- Joaquin Miller, 'The Ship In The Desert.' There was only one catch and that was Catch22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask, and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. -- Joseph Heller, 'Catch22.' We were stripped down, even the turrets were removed. You were light and real fast, though. Our 12th squadron motto was 'Alone Unarmed Unafraid.' As you can imagine, this actually translated into something more like, 'Alone Unarmed and Scared Shitless.' -- Theodore R. 'Dick' Newell, Korean War pilot, 12th TAC Reconnaissance Squadron, on flying the reconnaissance version of the B-26. We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because? It's obscene! -- Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in the 1979 movie 'Apocalypse Now.' No guts, no glory. If you are going to shoot him down, you have to get in there and mix it up with him. -- General Frederick C. 'Boots' Blesse, USAF. I don't mind being called tough, because in this racket it's the tough guys who lead the survivors. -- Curtis LeMay Watching the Dallas Cowboys perform, it is not difficult to believe that coach Tom Landry flew four-engines bombers during World War II. He was in B-17 Flying Fortresses out of England, they say. His cautious, conservative approach to every situation and the complexity of the plays he sends in do seem to reflect the philosophy of a pilot trained to doggedly press on according to plans laid down before takeoff. I sometimes wonder how the Cowboys would have fared all this years had Tom flown fighters in combat situations which dictated continuously changing tactics. -- Len Morgan, 'View from the Cockpit.' Everything I had ever learned about air fighting taught me that the man who is aggressive, who pushes a fight, is the pilot who is successful in combat and who has the best opportunity for surviving battle and coming home. -- Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAF. The aggressive spirit, the offensive, is the chief thing everywhere in war, and the air is no exception. -- Baron Manfred von Richthofen Do unto the other feller the way he'd like to do unto you, an' do it fust [sic]. -- E. N. Westcott, 'David Harum.' The essence of leadership . . . was, and is, that every leader from flight commander to group commander should know and fly his airplanes. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. A speck of dirt on your windscreen could turn into an enemy fighter in the time it took to look round and back again. A little smear on your goggles might hide the plane that was coming in to kill you. -- Derek Robinson, 'Piece of Cake.' There are pilots and there are pilots; with the good ones, it is inborn. You can't teach it. If you are a fighter pilot, you have to be willing to take risks. -- General Robin Olds, USAF. Today it is even more important to dominate the . . . highly sophisticated weapon systems, perhaps even more important than being a good pilot; to make the best use of this system. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. An excellent weapon and luck had been on my side. To be successful, the best fighter pilot needs both. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. One of the secrets of air fighting was to see the other man first. Seeing airplanes from great distances was a question of experience and training, of knowing where to look and what to look for. Experienced pilots always saw more than the newcomers, because the later were more concerned with flying than fighting. . . . The novice had little idea of the situation, because his brain was bewildered by the shock and ferocity of the fight. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. Only the spirit of attack borne in a brave heart will bring success to any fighter aircraft, no matter how highly developed it may be. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. The man who enters combat encased in solid armor plate, but lacking the essential of self-confidence, is far more exposed and naked to death than the individual who subjects himself to battle shorn of any protection but his own skill, his own belief in himself and in his wingman. Righteousness is necessary for one's peace of mind, perhaps, but it is a poor substitute for agility . . . and a resolution to meet the enemy under any conditions and against any odds. -- Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAF. I didn't turn with the enemy pilots as a rule. I might make one turn - to see what the situation was - but not often. It was too risky. -- General John C. Meyer, Vice-Chief of Staff, USAF. Nothing is true in tactics. -- Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN. We were too busy fighting to worry about the business of clever tactics. -- Harold Balfour, RAF. W.W.I fighter pilot and British Under-Secretary of State for War. Beware the lessons of a fighter pilot who would rather fly a slide rule than kick your ass! -- Commander Ron 'Mugs' McKeown, USN, Commander of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School. ... a fighter pilot must be free to propose improvements [in tactics] or he will get himself killed. -- Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN. When I took over my wing [in Vietnam], the big talk wasn't about the MIG's, but about the SAM's ... I'd seen enemy planes before, but those damn SAM's were something else. When I saw my first one, there were a few seconds of sheer panic, because that's a most impressive sight to see that thing coming at you. You feel like a fish about to be harpooned. There's something terribly personal about the SAM; it means to kill you and I'll tell you right now, it rearranges your priorities ... We had been told to keep our eyes on them and not to take any evasive move too soon, because they were heat-seeking and they, too would correct, so I waited until it was almost on me and then I rolled to the right and it went on by. It was awe inspiring ... The truth is you never do get used to the SAM's; I had about two hundred fifty shot at me and the last one was as inspiring as the first. Sure I got cagey, and I was able to wait longer and longer, but I never got overconfident. I mean, if you're one or two seconds too slow, you've had the schnitzel. -- General Robin Olds, USAF. Every day kill just one, rather than today five, tomorrow ten . . . that is enough for you. Then your nerves are calm and you can sleep good, you have your drink in the evening and the next morning you are fit again. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe. The most important thing for a fighter pilot is to get his first victory without too much shock. -- Colonel Werner Moelders, Luftwaffe. He got his first victory, and 114 others. It is true to say that the first kill can influence the whole future career of a fighter pilot. Many to whom the first victory over the opponent has been long denied either by unfortunate circumstances or by bad luck can suffer from frustration or develop complexes they may never rid themselves of again. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. I gained in experience with every plane shot down, and now was able to fire in a calm, deliberate manner. Each attack was made in a precise manner. Distance and deflection were carefully judged before firing. This is not something that comes by accident; only by experience can a pilot overcome feelings of panic. A thousand missions could be flown and be of no use if the pilot has not exchanged fire with the enemy. -- Major John T. Godfrey, USAAF. As a fighter pilot I know from my own experiences how decisive surprise and luck can be for success, which in the long run comes only to the one who combines daring with cool thinking. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. Months of preparation, one of those few opportunities, and the judgment of a split second are what makes some pilot an ace, while others think back on what they could have done. -- Colonel Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington, USMC. Success flourishes only in perseverance -- ceaseless, restless perseverance. -- Baron Manfred von Richthofen If he is superior then I would go home, for another day that is better. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' hartmann, GAF. If I should come out of this war alive, I will have more luck than brains. -- Captain Manfred Baron von Richtofen, in a letter to his mother upon being decorated with the Iron Cross. I was struck by the joy of those pilots in committing cold-blooded murder . . . Frankly, this is not cojones. This is cowardice. -- Madeleine Albright, US Ambassador to the UN, 1996. I scooted for our lines, sticky with fear. I vomited brandy-and-milk and bile all over my instrument panel. Yes, it was very romantic flying, people said later, like a knight errant in the clean blue sky of personal combat. -- "W. W. Windstaff," RFC. It was no picnic despite what anyone might say later . . . . Most of us were pretty scared all the bloody time; you only felt happy when the battle was over and you were on your way home, then you were safe for a bit, anyway. -- Colin Gray, 54 Squadron RAF, W.W.II. After a scrap I usually drink my tea through a straw. -- Derek Robinson, 'Piece of Cake.' I suppose I'm as good as the next guy, but that's about all. Only reason I'm still flying while a lot of other great guys are gone is because I've had the breaks so far. I believe though, that the breaks are going to continue my way. The minute a flyer gets the notion that his number is up, he's finished. I start out, and know I'm coming back, and that's all there is to it. Fear? You bet your life. But it's always on the way up. Then you get to thinking about a lot of things, but that all leaves you as you reach combat. Then there's a sense of great excitement, a thrill you can't duplicate anywhere. Then there can be no fear, no thought of life or death, no dream of yesterday or tomorrow. What you have at that moment is -- well, it may sound strange, but it's actually fun. The other guy has his chance, too, and you've got to get him before he gets you. Yes, I think it is the most exciting fun in the world. -- Lt. Col. Robert B. "Westy" Westbrook, USAAF, one of the leading aces of the Pacific, 'Los Angeles Examiner,' 20 June 1944. It got more exciting with each war. I mean the planes were going faster than hell when I was flying a Mustang, but by the time I got to Nam, it scared the piss out of a lot of guys just to fly the damn jets at full speed. Let alone do it in combat. -- General Robin Olds, USN. Ten of My Rules for Air Fighting Wait until you see the whites of his eyes. Fire short bursts of 1 to 2 seconds and only when your sights are definitely 'ON.' Whilst shooting think of nothing else; brace the whole of the body; have both hands on the stick; concentrate on your ring sight. Always keep a sharp lookout. "Keep your finger out"! Height gives you the initiative. Always turn and face the attack. Make your decisions promptly. It is better to act quickly even though your tactics are not the best. Never fly straight and level for more than 30 seconds in the combat area. When diving to attack always leave a proportion of your formation above to act as top guard. INITIATIVE, AGGRESSION, AIR DISCIPLINE, and TEAM WORK are words that MEAN something in Air Fighting. Go in quickly - Punch Hard - Get out! -- Flight Lieutenant Adolphus G. 'Sailor' Malan, RSAAF, W.W.II. Air Power When my brother and I built the first man-carrying flying machine we thought that we were introducing into the world an invention which would make further wars practically impossible. -- Orville Wright, 1917. Once the command of the air is obtained by one of the contended armies, the war must become a conflict between a seeing host and one that is blind. -- H. G. Wells We were once told that the aeroplane had "abolished frontiers." Actually it is only since the aeroplane became a serious weapon that frontiers have become definitely impassable. -- George Orwell Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth! -- Henry David Thoreau The cavalry, in particular, were not friendly to the aeroplane, which it was believed, would frighten the horses. -- Sir Walter Raleigh, writing of 1910. Bombardment from the air is legitimate only when directed at a military objective, the destruction or injury of which would constitute a distinct military disadvantage to the belligerent. -- The Hague Convention of Jurists, 1923. Above all, I shall see to it that the enemy will not be able to drop any bombs. -- Hermann Goering. German original: "Vor allem werde ich dafur sorgen, dass der Feind keint Bomben werfen Kann." The bomber will always get through. -- Stanley Baldwin, 1932. Space in which to maneuver in the air, unlike fighting on land or sea, is practically unlimited, and . . . any number of airplanes operating defensively would seldom stop a determined enemy from getting through. Therefore the airplane was, and is, essentially an instrument of attack, not defense. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. Only air power can defeat air power. The actual elimination or even stalemating of an attacking air force can be achieved only by a superior air force. -- Major Alexander P. de Seversky, USAAF. The time will come, when thou shalt lift thine eyes To watch a long-drawn battle in the skies. While aged peasants, too amazed for words, Stare at the flying fleets of wondrous birds. England, so long mistress of the sea, Where winds and waves confess her sovereignty, Her ancient triumphs yet on high shall bear And reign the sovereign of the conquered air. -- Thomas Gray, 'Gray's Elegy.' What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin . . Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour." -- Sir Winston Churchill, 18 June 1940. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. -- Sir Winston Churchill, House of Commons 20 August 1940. The Royal Air Force has been known as 'the few' ever since. This quote is often changed by writers and speakers, giving us material such as 'Never . . . was so much owed by so few to so many,' seen after the Falklands War. And where is the Prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief, before a force could be brought together to repel them? -- Benjamin Franklin The military mind always imagines that the next war will be on the same lines as the last. That has never been the case and never will be. One of the great factors on the next war will be aircraft obviously. The potentialities of aircraft attack on a large scale are almost incalculable. -- Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch Offense is the essence of air power. -- General H. H. 'Hap' Arnold, USAAF. No aircraft ever took and held ground. -- US Marine Corps Manual Air power is indivisible. If you split it up into compartments, you merely pull it to pieces and destroy its greatest asset - its flexibility. -- Field Marshall Bernard Mongomery Against this pale, duck-egg blue and greyish mauve were silhouetted a number of small black shapes: all of them bombers, and all of them moving the same way. One hundred and thirty-four miles ahead, and directly in their path, stretched a crimson-red glow; cologne was on fire. Already, only twenty-three minutes after the attack had started, Cologne was ablaze from end to end, and the main force of the attack was still to come. -- Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, DSO How could they possibly be Japanese planes? -- Admiral Husband E. Kimmel Believe me, Germany is unable to wage war. -- Former British Prime Minister David LLoyd George, 1 August, 1934. But I have seen the science I worshiped, and the airplane I loved, destroying the civilization I expected them to serve. -- Charles A. Lindbergh, 'Time,' 26 May 1967. Because of its independence of surface limitations and its superior speed the airplane is the offensive weapon par excellence. -- General Giulio Douhet I have a mathematical certainty that the future will confirm my assertion that aerial warfare will be the most important element in future wars, and that in consequence not only will the importance of the Independent Air Force rapidly increase, but the importance of the army and navy will decrease in proportion. -- General Giulio Douhet, 'Command of the Air,' 1921. The most important branch of aviation is pursuit, which fights for and gains control of the air. -- Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, USAS. In the development of air power, one has to look ahead and not backward and figure out what is going to happen, not too much what has happened. -- Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, USAS. The advent of air power, which can go straight to the vital centers and either neutralize or destroy them, has put a completely new complexion on the old system of making war. It is now realized that the hostile main army in the field is a false objective, and the real objectives are the vital centers. -- Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, 'Skyways: A Book on Modern Aeronautics,' 1930. [In World War I] air raids on both sides caused interruptions to production and transportation out of all proportion to the weight of bombs dropped. -- Edward Meade Earle The sky over London was glorious, ochre and madder, as though a dozen tropic suns were simultaneously setting round the horizon . . . Everywhere the shells sparkled like Christmas baubles. -- Evelyn Waugh. From now on we shall bomb Germany on an ever-increasing scale, month by month, year by year, until the Nazi regime has either been exterminated by us or -- better still -- torn to pieces by the German people themselves. -- Sir Winston Churchill, 14 July, 1941. Strategic air assault is wasted if it is dissipated piecemeal in sporadic attacks between which the enemy has an opportunity to readjust defenses or recuperate. -- General H. H. 'Hap' Arnold, USAAF. I am purely evil; Hear the thrum of my evil engine; Evilly I come. The stars are thick as flowers In the meadows of July; A fine night for murder Winging through the sky. -- Ethel Mannin, 'Song of the Bomber.' If we lose the war in the air we lose the war and lose it quickly. -- Field Marshall Montgomery Air power is like poker. A second-best hand is like none at all -- it will cost you dough and win you nothing. -- George Kenney Air power alone does not guarantee America's security, but I believe it best exploits the nation's greatest asset -- our technical skill. -- General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, second AF Chief of Staff. I believe this plan [raiding RAF airfields] would have been very successful, but as a result of the Fuhrer's speech about retribution, in which he asked that London be attacked immediately, I had to follow the other course. I wanted to attack the airfields first, thus creating a prerequisite for attacking London . . . I spoke with the Fuhrer about my plans in order to try to have him agree I should attack the first ring of RAF airfields around London, but he insisted he wanted to have London itself attacked for political reasons, and also for retribution. I considered the attacks on London useless, and I told the Fuhrer again and again that inasmuch as I knew the English people as well as I did my own people, I could never force them to their knees by attacking London. We might be able to subdue the Dutch people by such measures but not the British. -- Reichmarschall Hermann Goering, International Military Tribunal Nuremberg, 1946. Air battle is not decided in a few great clashes but over a long period of time when attrition and discouragement eventually cause one side to avoid the invading air force. -- Dale O. Smith The best way to defend the bombers is to catch the enemy before it his in position to attack. Catch them when they are taking off, or when they are climbing, or when they are forming up. Don't think you can defend the bomber by circling around him. It's good for the bombers morale, and bad for tactics. -- Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, USAF. Bombing is often called 'strategic' when we hit the enemy, and 'tactical' when he hits us, and is often difficult to know where one finishes and the other begins. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. Airpower has become predominant, both as a deterrent to war, and—in the eventuality of war—as the devastating force to destroy an enemy’s potential and fatally undermine his will to wage war. -- Omar Bradley Air Power is, above all, a psychological weapon—and only short-sighted soldiers, too battle-minded, underrate the importance of psychological factors in war. -- B. H. Liddell-Hart Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success. -- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Rommel Papers, 1953. The first and absolute requirement of strategic air power in this war was control of the air in order to carry out sustained operations without prohibitive losses. -- General Carl A. 'Tooey' Spaatz In order to assure an adequate national defense, it is necessary -- and sufficient -- to be in a position in case of war to conquer the command of the air. -- General Giulio Douhet Air control can be established by superiority in numbers, by better employment, by better equipment, or by a combination of these factors. -- General Carl A. 'Tooey' Spaatz A modern state is such a complex and interdependent fabric that it offers a target highly sensitive to a sudden and overwhelming blow from the air. -- B. H. Liddell-Hart We carried out many trials to try to find the answer to the fast, low-level intruder, but there is no adequate defense. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. . . . then there was war in heaven. But it was not angels. It was that small golden zeppelin, like a long oval world, high up. It seemed as if the cosmic order were gone, as if there had come a new order, a new heavens above us: and as if the world in anger were trying to revoke it . . . So it seems ours cosmos is burst, burst at last, the stars and moon blown away, the envelope of the sky burst out, and a new cosmos appeared, with a long-ovate, gleaming central luminary, calm and drifting in a glow of light, like a new moon, with its light bursting in flashes on the earth, to burst away the earth also. So it is the end -- our world is gone, and we are like dust in the air. -- Milton, 'Paradise Lost.' And even if a semblance of order could be maintained and some work done, would not the sight of a single enemy airplane be enough to induce a formidable panic? Normal life would be unable to continue under the constant threat of death and imminent destruction. -- General Giulio Douhet, 'Il dominio dell'aria,' 1921. We have the enemy surrounded. We are dug in and have overwhelming numbers. But enemy airpower is mauling us badly. We will have to withdraw. -- Japanese infantry commander, situation report to headquarters, Burma, WW II. To have command of the air means to be able to cut an enemy's army and navy off from their bases of operation and nullify their chances of winning the war. -- General Giulio Douhet The conviction of the justification of using even the most brutal weapons is always dependent on the presence of a fanatical belief in the necessity of the victory of a revolutionary new order on this globe. -- Adolf Hitler, 'Mein Kampf.' In the early stages of the fight Mr. Winston Churchill spoke with affectionate raillery of me and my "Chicks." He could have said nothing to make me more proud; every Chick was needed before the end. -- ACM Sir Hugh C. T. Dowding, dispatch to the Secretary of State for Air, 20 August 1941. The most important thing is to have a flexible approach. . . . The truth is no one knows exactly what air fighting will be like in the future. We can't say anything will stay as it is, but we also can't be certain the future will conform to particular theories, which so often, between the wars, have proved wrong. -- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF. The weapon where the man is sitting in is always superior against the other. -- Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, GAF. "He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing," is one of the fundamental rules of defense. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. If we should have to fight, we should be prepared to do so from the neck up instead of from the neck down. -- Jimmy Doolittle To use a fighter as a fighter-bomber when the strength of the fighter arm is inadequate to achieve air superiority is putting the cart before the horse. -- Lt General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe The only proper defense is offense -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. It is not possible to seal an air space hermetically by defensive tactics. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. Superior technical achievements -- used correctly both strategically and tactically -- can beat any quantity numerically many times stronger yet technically inferior. -- Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe. Good airplanes are more important than superiority in numbers. -- Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF. Why don't we just buy one airplane and let the pilots take turns flying it. -- Calvin Coolidge, complaining about a War Department request to buy more aircraft. In our victory over Japan, airpower was unquestionably decisive. That the planned invasion of the Japanese Home islands was unnecessary is clear evidence that airpower has evolved into a force in war co-equal with land and sea power, decisive in its own right and worthy of the faith of its prophets. -- General Carl A. 'Tooey' Spaatz, 'Evolution of Air Power,' Military Review, 1947. The function of the Army and Navy in any future war will be to support the dominant air arm. -- General James Doolittle, 1949, in a speech at Georgetown University. If we maintain our faith in God, love of freedom, and superior global air power, the future [of the US] looks good. -- General Curtis Lemay Other Send me a message!!! Thanks for stopping by....if you see any quotes that are incorrect or there are any other faults please email me so I can make the necessary corrections. Here is a list of famous, and not so famous quotes, so here goes... Click on a letter of the alphabet to goto the appropriate section A Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. - Lord Acton No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. - Henry B. Adams It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. - Alfred Adler Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. - Aesop We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified. - Aesop The paper burns, but the words fly away. - Ben Joseph Akiba Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night. - George Allen I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. - Woody Allen The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you. - Woody Allen Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. - Muhammad Ali Women like silent men. They think they're listening. - Marcel Archard Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius. - Henri-Frederic Amiel In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order. - Idi Amin Dada God has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning. - Imamu Amiri Baraka Never argue with a fool - people might not know the difference. - Anonymous What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. - Neil Armstrong B Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. - Francis Bacon It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations. - Walter Bagehot The future is like heaven - everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now. - James Baldwin It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time. - Tallulah Bankhead Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. the most terrifying thing is what people do want. - Clive Barnes The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you. - Brandan Behan Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. - Hector Berlioz Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two. - Ambrose Bierce The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start thinking your work is terribly important. - Milo Bloom An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. - Niels Bohr If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. - Derek Bok The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there. - Clare Boothe Luce No good deed goes unpunished. - Clare Boothe Luce When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder. - James H. Boren Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone. - Jorge Luis Borges Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner. - General Omar Bradley An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less. - Nicholas Murray Butler Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. - Samuel Butler I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it. - Ashleigh Brilliant Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is. - Ashleigh Brilliant To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target. - Ashleigh Brilliant Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. - Mathew Browne As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children. - Anita Bryant Before you kill something make sure you have something better to replace it with; something better than political opportunist slamming hate horse shit in the public park. - Charles Bukowski We love your adherence to democratic principles. - William F. Buckley One was never married, and that's his hell; another is, and that's his plague. - Robert Burton C The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. - James B. Cabell It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies. - Arthur Calwell An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought. - Simon Cameron You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. - Al Capone Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work. - Al Capp In time of war the first casualty is truth. - Boake Carter Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice Doggie!" till you can find a rock. - Wynn Catlin As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it. - Dick Cavett In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence. - Cesar Chavez He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. - Chinese proverb The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out. - Chinese Proverb I like a man who grins when he fights. - Winston Churchill I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. - Winston Churchill Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most times he will pick himself up and carry on. - Winston Churchill The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. - Winston Churchill Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others. - Winston Churchill Who will protect the public when the police violate the law? - Ramsey Clark War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military. - Georges Clemenceau When you have nothing to say, say nothing. - Charles Caleb Colton America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. - Georges Clemenceau I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. - Confucius Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. - Confucius Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you. - Cyril Connolly D The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children. - Clarence Darrow When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it. - Clarence Darrow There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. - Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up. - Phyllis Diller I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget. - Benjamin Disraeli There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. - Benjamin Disraeli Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. - Will Durant E History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives. - Abba Eban A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. - Adolf Eichmann I never think of the future - it comes soon enough. - Albert Einstein Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. - Albert Einstein The important thing is not to stop questioning. - Albert Einstein The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. - Albert Einstein Before God we are equally wise - and equally foolish. - Albert Einstein The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible. - Albert Einstein We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. - Dwight D. Eisenhower I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog. - Dwight D. Eisenhower This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. - T. S. Eliot What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command. - Havelock Ellis Always do what you are afraid to do. - Ralph Waldo Emerson What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven. - Ralph Waldo Emerson A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud. - Ralph Waldo Emerson I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Hitch your wagon to a star. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Every man I meet is in some way my superior. - Ralph Waldo Emerson We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. - Epictetus War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it. - Desiderius Erasmus There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me. - John Erskine Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. - Susan Ertz Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish. - Euripides The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth. - Harold Evans F When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before. - Clifton Fadiman If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks and transporting goods on our backs. - Eilliam Feather Computer : a million morons working at the speed of light. - David Ferrier I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally. - W.C. Fields It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper. - Errol Flynn Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. - Henry Ford I am responsible only to God and history. - Francisco Franco Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other. - Benjamin Franklin In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. - Benjamin Franklin Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. - Sigmund Freud The news is the one thing the networks can point to with pride. Everything else they do is crap - and they know it. - Fred Friendly The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal. - Erich Fromm A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. - Robert Frost A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. - Robert Frost A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. - Robert Frost The world is full of willing people; some wiling to work, the rest willing to let them. - Robert Frost We compound our suffering by victimizing each other. - Athol Fugard The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun. - R. Buckminster Fuller It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree. It's what you do with your life that counts. - Millard Fuller G Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is almost as silly as getting married just because you do. - Zsa Zsa Gabor Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory. - John Kenneth Galbraith Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. - John Kenneth Galbraith The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. - John Kenneth Galbraith One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know. - John Kenneth Galbraith A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs. - German Proverb If you can count your money you don't have a billion dollars. - J. Paul Getty Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. - Andr Gide The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made. - Jean Giraudoux Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope. - Arnold Glasow We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions, nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs. - Mikhail Gornachov Heresy is another word for freedom of thought. - Graham Greene Figures won't lie, but liars will figure. - Charles H. Grosvenor H Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. - Alex Hamilton War will cease when men refuse to fight. - Fridtjof Hansen Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own. - Sydney Harris In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. - Paul Harvey Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater. - William Hazlitt Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence. - Hebrew Proverb Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do. But beautiful women don't need to know about men. It's the men who have to know about beautiful women. - Katherine Hepburn There is nothing permanent except change. - Heraclitus Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks. - Herodotus Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. - Alfred Hitchcock The victor will never be asked if he told the truth. - Adolf Hitler What luck for the rulers that men do not think. - Adolf Hitler Strength lies not in defense but in attack. - Adolf Hitler Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong. - Adolf Hitler The great masses of the people... will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. - Adolf Hitler You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. - Eric Hoffer The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. - Abbie Hoffman Justice is incidental to law and order. - J. Edgar Hoover Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped. - Elbert Hubbard Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. - Kin Hubbard When a fellow says it ain't the money but the principle of the thing, it's the money. - Kin Hubbard Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature. - Kin Hubbard The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. - Hubert H. Humphrey The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. - Robert Hutchins Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. - Aldous Huxley Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. - Aldous Huxley I A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. - Henrik Ibsen The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone. - Henrik Ibsen Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them. - Robert G. Ingersoll J The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it. - Reggie Jackson It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are. - Clive James A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. - William James The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. - William James In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty. - Thomas Jefferson It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar. - Jerome K. Jerome Men are like wine - some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age. - Pope John XXIII Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. - Samuel Johnson An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. - John Junor K In the fight between you and the world, back the world. - Franz Kafka You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one. - Edward Keating College isn't the place to go for ideas. - Hellen Keller Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all- the apathy of human beings. - Helen Keller Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. - John F. Kennedy If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. - John F. Kennedy We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world - or to make it the last. - John F. Kennedy And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. - John F. Kennedy Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. - Robert F. Kennedy Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say "Why not?" - Robert F. Kennedy In the long run we are all dead. - John Maynard Keynes Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. - Nikita Khruschev Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King Jr. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King Jr Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. - Rudyard Kipling The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer. - Henry Kissinger Television - a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done. - Ernie Kovacs Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. - Jonathan Kozol L People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts. - Robert Keith Leavitt Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money. - Leon Lederman It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it. - Robert E. Lee It is true that liberty is precious - so precious that it must be rationed. - Nikolai Lenin The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him. - Claude Levi-Strauss Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. - Aaron Levenstein Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you. Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all. - Bernard Levin Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. - Abraham Lincoln You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. - Abraham Lincoln Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much. - Walter Lippmann I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. - John Locke Winning is not everything. It's the only thing. - Vince Lombardi Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. - Joe Louis M In war there is no substitute for victory. - General Douglas MacArthur It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved. - Niccolo Machiavelli All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death than animals that know nothing. - Maurice Maeterlinck Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. - Mao Zedong An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience. -Donald R. Perry Marquis From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. - Karl Marx Religion... is the opium of the masses. - Karl Marx Love is only the dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. - W. Somerset Maugham A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground. - H. L. Mencken Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. - H. L. Mencken No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. - H. L. Mencken Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals. - H. L. Mencken The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. - H. L. Mencken A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something. - Wilson Mizner Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking. - H. L. Mencken When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism; but when you take it from many writers, it's research. - Wilson Mizner Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something. - Wilson Mizner Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. - Hannah More You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. - John Morley Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought. - Dwight Morrow Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation. - Edward R. Murrow The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off, have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the greatest misery without almost noticing them. - Gunnar Myrdal N Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent. - Napoleon In politics stupidity is not a handicap. - Napoleon If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing. - Napoleon A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights. - Napoleon History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. - Napoleon Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. - George Jean Nathan Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an unidentified source. - Ron Nesen Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability. - Flower A. Newhouse We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons... - Alfred E. Newman One should dies proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. - Friedrich Nietzsche What does not destroy me, makes me strong. - Friedrich Nietzsche Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves? - Friedrich Nietzsche A ship is always referred to as "she" because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder. - Chester Nimitz I would have made a good pope. - Richard Nixon Voters quickly forget what a man says. - Richard Nixon When the president does it, that's means it is not illegal. - Richard Nixon Laws were made to be broken. - Christopher North O The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist knows it. - J. Robert Oppenheimer On the whole human beings want to be good, but not to good and not quite all the time. - George Orwell Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell To be loved, be lovable. - Ovid P The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom. - Cyril Parkinson The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. - Ellen Parr If all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world. - Blaise Pascal I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they (the whites of South Africa) have turned to loving, they will find we (the blacks) are turned to hating. - Alan Paton What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another? - Alan Paton Who knows for what we live, struggle and die?... Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand. But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle, is beyond all human wisdom. - Alan Paton To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man. - Alan Paton Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack. - George S. Patton Never tell the people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their integrity. - George S. Patton Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel. - Boies Penrose An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. - Laurence J. Peter Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices. - Laurance Peter Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it. - Laurance Peter In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. - Laurence Peter Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame. - Laurance Peter Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics. - Wendell Phillips Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood. - Augusto Pinochet The measure of a man is what he does with power. - Pittacus Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater. - Roman Polanski Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true. - Polish proverb One lives in the hope of becoming a memory. - Antonio Porchia They talk most who have the least to say. - Mathew Prior A city is a large community where people are lonesome together. - Herbert Prochnow Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous. - William Proxmire Practice is the best of all instructors. - Publilius Syrus Q If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - J. Danforth Quayle Happy campers you have been, happy campers you are, and happy campers you will always be. - J. Danforth Quayle I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people. - J. Danforth Quayle R A nuclear power plant is infinently safer than eating, because 300 people choke to death on food every year. - Dixy Lee Ray Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book. - Ronald Reagan Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. - Ronald Reagan I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary. - Ronald Reagan I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. - Ronald Reagan The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us. - Quentin Reynolds The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people who make them unsafe. - Frank Rizzo If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought. - Dennis Roch Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it.... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week. - Will Rogers We always love those who admire us, but we do not always love those whom we admire. - Francois We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. - Will Rogers Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else. - Will Rogers No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. - Franklin D. Roosevelt People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little. - Jean Jacques Rousseau The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. - Bertrand Russel You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. - Rwandan proverb S A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you. - Francois Sagan A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. - George Santayana When the rich make war it's the poor that die. - Jean-Paul Sartre Assassination is the extreme form of censorship. - George Bernard Shaw The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end. - Adlai Stevenson There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy. - Swift T The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. - Mother Teresa That government is best which governs least. - Henry David Thoreau The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. - Lily Tomlin If you can't convince them, confuse them. - Harry S. Truman It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. - Harry S. Truman Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. - Harry S. Truman I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. - Donald Trump Words divide us, actions unite us. - Slogan of the Tupamaros Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to. - Mark Twain U Good politics are often inextricably intertwined. - Morris Udall V The Vice Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate. Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does. - Bill Vaughan It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail. - Gore Vidal W The sports page records people's accomplishments; The front page nothing but their failures. - Jutice Earl Warren Too much of a good thing is wonderful. - Mae West No man is rich enough to buy back his past. - Oscar Wilde We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. - Oscar Wilde There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. - Oscar Wilde Only the winners decide what were war crimes. - Gary Wills If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. - Earl Wilson X Y Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. - William Butler Yeats Z It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees! - Emiliano Zapata You can't be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER - Frank Zappa