Sailing Through Wisdom: Inspirational Quotes from the Navy

"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.'"

- President John F. Kennedy

"I have not yet begun to fight!"

- John Paul Jones

"...without a Respectable Navy, Alas America!"

- Captain John Paul Jones

"Don't give up the ship!"

- Captain James Lawrence

"Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!"

- Admiral David Glasgow Farragut

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

- President Theodore Roosevelt

"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.’"

- President John F. Kennedy

"The battle of Iwo Island [Jima] 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.... Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

- Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

"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...."

- President John F. Kennedy

"For in this modern world, the instruments of warfare are not solely for waging war. Far more importantly, they are the means for controlling peace. Naval officers must therefore understand not only how to fight a war, but how to use the tremendous power which they operate to sustain a world of liberty and justice, without unleashing the powerful instruments of destruction and chaos that they have at their command."

- Admiral Arleigh Burke

"A powerful Navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means of defense; and it has always been of defense that we have thought, never of aggression or of conquest. But who shall tell us now what sort of Navy to build? We shall take leave to be strong upon the seas, in the future as in the past; and there will be no thought of offense or provocation in that. Our ships are our natural bulwarks."

- President Woodrow Wilson

"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."

- President George Washington

"We have met the enemy and they are ours..."

- Oliver Hazard Perry

"I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go in harm's way."

- Captain John Paul Jones

"You may fire when you are ready Gridley."

- Commodore George Dewey

"Take her down!"

- Commander Howard Walter Gilmore

"A powerful Navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means of defense; and it has always been of defense that we have thought, never of aggression or of conquest."

- President Woodrow Wilson

"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!"

- Leutenant Howell Maurice Forgy (USN)

"The Navy has both a tradition and a future--and we look with pride and confidence in both directions."

- Admiral George Anderson

"Sighted Sub, Sank Same."

- AMM 1/c Donald Francis Mason