Naval Quotes

• It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.

  George Washington

  Military, Night, Navy

  George Washington (1908). “Letters and Addresses,”

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• Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.

  Winston Churchill

  Funny, Army, British Navy

  In Sir Peter Gretton Former Naval Person (1968) ch. 1

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• A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Military, War, Navy

  Theodore Roosevelt (1916). “Fear God and Take Your Own Part”, New York : George H. Doran

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• I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.

  John Paul Jones

  Life, Fear, Military

  Letter to Le Ray de Chaumont, 16 Nov. 1778

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• Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive.

  George Washington

  Navy, Submarines, Force

  George Washington, John Clement Fitzpatrick, David Maydole Matteson (1782). “The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799”, p.341

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• I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.

  John F. Kennedy

  Military, Pride, Men

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.620, Best Books on

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• **** the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!

  David Farragut

  War, Military, Marine

  At the battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 ('torpedoes' were mines). Capt. A. T. Mahan 'Admiral Farragut' (1892) ch. 10

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• The battle of Iwo Island has been won. The United States Marines by their individual and collective courage have conquered a base which is as necessary to us in our continuing forward movement toward final victory as it was vital to the enemy in staving off ultimate defeat.

  Chester W. Nimitz

  War, Marine, Islands

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• Events of October 1962 indicated, as they had all through history, that control of the sea means security. Control of the seas can mean peace. Control of the seas can mean victory. The United States must control the seas if it is to protect your security.

  John F. Kennedy

  Mean, Sea, Victory

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• There is no such thing as a naval dictatorship.

  George Orwell

  Dictatorship

  George Orwell (2009). “Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays”, p.116, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Yesterday, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan... We will gain the inevitable triumph so help us God.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  War, Yesterday, America

  Franklin D. Roosevelt's Address to the Congress Asking That a State of War Be Declared Between the United States and Japan, www.loc.gov. December 8, 1941.

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• I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.

  John Adams

  Education, Philosophy, War

  John Adams (2003). “The Letters of John and Abigail Adams”, p.264, Penguin

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• I never made a career decision based solely on my desire to be an astronaut. I attended the Naval Academy because I wanted to be a Navy pilot. I majored in math because math had always come pretty easily to me and I liked it.

  John L. Phillips

  Math, Careers, Decision

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• The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.

  Ulysses S. Grant

  Art, Peace, Military

  Statement to John Hill Brinton at the start of his Tennessee River Campaign, early 1862. "Personal Memoirs of John H. Brinton, Major and Surgeon U.S.V., 1861-1865". Book by John H. Brinton, p. 239, 1914.

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• I do not hesitate to say that the limitation on naval craft between the great naval powers was too high.

  Frank B. Kellogg

  Navy, Crafts, Limitation

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• Because my father was often absent on naval duty, my mother suffered me to do much as I pleased

  John James Audubon

  Mother, Father, Navy

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• My observations of Japanese naval fighting men, their abilities and equipment led me to believe that they gave a better account of themselves than we did.

  Jack Adams

  Believe, Fighting, Men

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• When I lost my rifle, the Army charged me 85 dollars. That is why in the Navy the Captain goes down with the ship.

  Dick Gregory

  Funny, Military, Responsibility

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• I have already transmitted to Congress the report of the naval court of inquiry on the destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana during the night of the fifteenth of February. The destruction of that noble vessel has filled the national heart with inexpressible horror. Two hundred and fifty-eight brave sailors and marines and two officers of our Navy, reposing in the fancied security of a friendly harbor, have been hurled to death, grief and want brought to their homes and sorrow to the nation.

  William McKinley

  Grief, Home, Heart

  Harry Joseph Sievers, William McKinley (1970). “William McKinley, 1843-1901: Chronology, Documents, Bibliographical Aids”, Oceana Publications

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• There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.

  Joseph Conrad

  Life, Ocean, Army

  Joseph Conrad (1905). “Lord Jim”, p.7, McClure, Phillips & Company

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• There are in most states one or two ministers of war, one of whom is the minister of naval affairs.

  Fredrik Bajer

  War, Two, Navy

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• Sailors have the cleanest bodies and the filthiest minds.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Mind, Navy, Body

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• Competition in armament, both land and naval, is not only a terrible burden upon the people, but I believe it to be one of the greatest menaces to the peace of the world.

  Frank B. Kellogg

  Believe, Land, People

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• Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners.

  Winston Churchill

  Men, Navy, Submarines

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• We have met the enemy and they are ours.

  Oliver Hazard Perry

  Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Military

  Message toWilliam Henry Harrison, 10 Sept. 1813. The source is Perry's dispatch from the U.S. brig Niagara to General Harrison, announcing that victory at the Battle of Lake Erie was secure. The dispatch was written in pencil on the back of an old letter; it is quoted in Robert B. McAfee, History of the LateWar in theWestern Country (1816). SeeWalt Kelly 2; Walt Kelly 3

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