Horatio Nelson
Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake we must not interrupt him too soon.Collection: Veterans
I could not tread these perilous paths in safety, if I did not keep a saving sense of humor.Collection: Humor
My character and good name are in my own keeping. Life with disgrace is dreadful. A glorious death is to be envied.Collection: Death
Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be.Collection: Business
My greatest happiness is to serve my gracious King and Country and I am envious only of glory; for if it be a sin to covet glory I am the most offending soul alive.Collection: Happiness
First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.Collection: Best
Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.Collection: Alone
Now I can do no more. We must trust to the Great Disposer of all events and the justice of our cause. I thank God for this opportunity of doing my duty.Collection: Trust
No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.
Firstly you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own regarding their propriety. Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and thirdly you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil.
Desperate affairs require desperate measures.
I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal!
I cannot, if I am in the field of glory, be kept out of sight: wherever there is anything to be done, there Providence is sure to direct my steps.
Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.
I cannot command winds and weather.
If a man consults whether he is to fight, when he has the power in his own hands, it is certain that his opinion is against fighting.
When I follow my own head, I am, in general, much more correct in my judgment than following the opinion of others.
England expects that every man will do his duty.
Buonaparte has often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port; but know he finds, I fancy, if Emperors hear the truth, that his fleet suffers more in a night than ours in one year.
If I had been censured every time I have run my ship, or fleets under my command, into great danger, I should have long ago been out of the Service and never in the House of Peers.
It is warm work; and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment. But mark you! I would not be elsewhere for thousands. - at the Battle of Copenhagen.
Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made.
Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.
Let me alone: I have yet my legs and one arm. Tell the surgeon to make haste and his instruments. I know I must lose my right arm, so the sooner it's off the better.
In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them.
I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest.Collection: Opinion
I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour before my time.Collection: Change
A fleet of British ships at war are the best negotiators.Collection: War
Firstly, you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own respecting their propriety. Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and thirdly, you must hate a Frenchman, as you do the devil.Collection: Kings
In Sea affairs, nothing is impossible, and nothing is improbable.Collection: Sea
Recollect that you must be a seaman to be an officer and also that you cannot be a good officer without being a gentleman.Collection: Gentleman
Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian.Collection: Naval
The bravest man feels an anxiety 'circa praecordia' as he enters the battle; but he dreads disgrace yet more.Collection: Men
You must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your King, and you must treat every Frenchman as if he were the Devil himself.Collection: Kings
The politics of courts are so mean that private people would be ashamed to act in the same way; all is trick and finesse, to which the common cause is sacrificed.Collection: Mean
What the country needs is the annihilation of the enemy.Collection: Country
I will dine nowhere without your consent although with my present feelings I might be trusted with fifty virgins naked in a dark room.Collection: Love
To do nothing was disgraceful; therefore I made use of my understanding.Collection: War
My love is founded on esteem, the only foundation that can make the passion last.Collection: Love
England expects every man to do his dutyCollection: Men
Something must be left to chance; nothing is certain in a sea fightCollection: Fighting
When I came to explain to them the 'Nelson Touch', it was like an electric shock. Some shed tears, all approved - 'It was new - it was singular - it was simple!'.Collection: Simple
Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last... my backbone is shot through.Collection: War
Thank God I have done my duty. Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub. Kiss me, Hardy.Collection: Kissing
Frigates are the eyes of a fleet.Collection: War
There can be no place for self entirelyCollection: Self
Thank God I have done my duty.Collection: War
A ship's a fool to fight a fort.Collection: War
I am a Norfolk man and Glory in being so.Collection: Men
I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.Collection: Blow