Eddie Rickenbacker Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

"Fighting in the air is not a sport. It is scientific murder."

"I would rather have a million friends than a million dollars."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"The sensation of dying is sweet, sensuous, placid."

"I am not a labor hater."

"Sports of every sort had always appealed to me."

"The experienced fighting pilot does not take unnecessary risks. His business is to shoot down enemy planes, not to get shot down."

"Some friends are better shots than are casual enemies."

"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."

"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."

"Never count on the crowd to take care of you."

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

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

"True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason."