Horatio Nelson Quotes

41 quotes in 472 categories

• 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…
• Thank God I have done my duty.
• To do nothing was disgraceful; therefore I made use of my understanding.
• What the country needs is the annihilation of the enemy.
• Laurels grow in the Bay of Biscay, I hope a bed of them may be found in the Mediterranean.
• Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last... my backbone is shot through.
• Frigates are the eyes of a fleet.
• First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.
• A ship's a fool to fight a fort.
• Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.
• 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…
• I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour before my time.
• Thank God I have done my duty. Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub. Kiss me, Hardy.
• I have a right to be blind sometimes.
• Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.
• Something must be left to chance; nothing is certain in a sea fight
• England expects every man to do his duty
• 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…
• 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…
• The bravest man feels an anxiety 'circa praecordia' as he enters the battle; but he dreads disgrace yet more.

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