Horatio Nelson Quotes

I have a right to be blind sometimes.

I cannot command winds and weather.

Whoever gains the palm by merit, let him hold it.

England expects every man to do his duty

Laurels grow in the Bay of Biscay, I hope a bed of them may be found in the Mediterranean.

Something must be left to chance; nothing is certain in a sea fight

No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.

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.

I could not tread these perilous paths in safety, if I did not keep a saving sense of humor.

In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them.

I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes ... I really do not see the signal!

Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake we must not interrupt him too soon.

There can be no place for self entirely

In Sea affairs, nothing is impossible, and nothing is improbable.

I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.

Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.

I am a Norfolk man and Glory in being so.

My love is founded on esteem, the only foundation that can make the passion last.

England expects that every man will do his duty.

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.

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.

It is my turn now; and if I come back, it is yours.

Thank God I have done my duty. Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub. Kiss me, Hardy.

A ship's a fool to fight a fort.

The bravest man feels an anxiety 'circa praecordia' as he enters the battle; but he dreads disgrace yet more.

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.

Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian.

Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last ... my backbone is shot through.

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.

To do nothing was disgraceful; therefore I made use of my understanding.

Thank God I have done my duty.

My character and good name are in my own keeping. Life with disgrace is dreadful. A glorious death is to be envied.

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.

Had we taken ten sails, and let the eleventh to escape, being able to get at her, I could never have called it well done.

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.