There are two kinds of airplanes - those you fly and those that fly you . . . You must have a distinct understanding at the very start as to who is the boss.

Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.

Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.

Nobody who gets too damned relaxed builds up much flying time.

There is no more alluring airspace in the world than the slit up a China girl's dress.

Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart.

The emergencies you train for almost never happen. It's the one you can't train for that kills you.

Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell.

MaCleod, since you've flown the SeaBee a lot you'll understand when I say it was the only airplane I ever owned that you could put in a dive, loose a cylinder and stall out!

I want a boat that drinks 6, eats 4, and sleeps 2.

It's remarkable how quickly a good and favorable wind can sweep away the maddening frustrations of shore living.

Shadows were too black, and when a breeze stirred the trees, the shadows changed in a disquieting way.

We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.

Almost every one flatters himself that he and his are exceptionable.

The Dixiecrats meet again in New York. Now they're called Republicans.

The amount of currency in circulation is not changing. The money supply is not changing in any significant way.

There is a big difference between just learning something, and actually LIVING what you learn.

I dreamed I was buying new shoes last night," said Ron. "What d'ya think that's gonna mean?" "Probably that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," said Harry.

The entire annals of Observation probably do not elsewhere exhibit so extraordinary a verification of any theoretical conjecture adventured on by the human spirit!

I work for a big newspaper, and I guess I'm an insider. I don't have the luxury of calling myself a foreign correspondent and just swooping in and then leaving.

There is nothing wrong with trying to exploit the natural human tendency to become impatient when forced to play a boring position.