Horatio Nelson (1758 – 1805)
British naval officer.
This is too warm work, Hardy, to last long.
When I am without orders and unexpected occurrences arrive I shall always act as I think the honour and glory of my King and Country demand. But in case signals can neither be seen or perfectly understood, no captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.
Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub.
Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be.
...When he was on the eve of departure for one of his great expeditions the coachmaker said to him, "The carriage shall be at the door punctually at six o clock"; "A quarter before," said Nelson. "I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time and it has made a man of me."
To leave off action"? Well, damn me if I do! You know, Foley, I have only one eye,— I have a right to be blind sometimes . . . I really do not see the signal!
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.
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.
Desperate affairs require desperate measures.
Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight above all.
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.
The bravest man feels an anxiety 'circa praecordia' as he enters the battle; but he dreads disgrace yet more.
There are three things, young gentlemen, which you are constantly to bear in mind. 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.
First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.