Eddie Rickenbacker

“I am not a labor hater.”

“Sports of every sort had always appealed to me.”

“It is the easiest thing in the world to die. The hardest is to live.”

“Never count on the crowd to take care of you.”

“I've cheated the Grim Reaper more times than anyone I know.”

“Aviation is proof that given, the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.”

“The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence.”

“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.”

“Flying is one of the safest jobs in the Army as long as you don't drop out. If you do drop out, you are a dead man, and dropping out means, usually, that you have made a mistake or let go of your grip.”

“I shall never ask any pilot to go on a mission that I won't go on.”

“The sensation of dying is sweet, sensuous, placid.”

“When I look up and see the sun shining on the patch of white clouds up in the blue, I begin to think how it would feel to be up somewhere above it winging swiftly thought the clear air, watching the earth below, and the men on it, no bigger than ants.”

“I would rather have a million friends than a million dollars.”

“The excitement of automobile racing did not compare with what I knew must come with aeroplane fighting in France.”

“I'll fight like a wildcat until they nail the lid of my pine box down on me.”

“Long practise in driving a racing car at a hundred miles an hour or so gives first-class training in control and judging distances at high speed and helps tremendously in getting motor sense, which is rather the feel of your engine than the sound of it, a thing you get through your bones and nerves rather than simply your ears.”

“There is a peculiar gratification in 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.”

“I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through - then follow through.”

“The obviously inexperienced pilot is the game the scientific air-fighter goes after, and the majority of victories are won that way. But, on the other hand, it is the novice usually who gets the famous ace by doing at some moment the unexpected thing.”

“Some friends are better shots than are casual enemies.”