David > David's Quotes

“REQUIEM

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he long'd to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, Selected Poems

“I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.”
― John F. Kennedy

“Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.”
― Hyman G. Rickover

“Free discussion requires an atmosphere unembarrassed by any suggestion of authority or even respect. If a subordinate agrees with his superior he is a useless part of the organization.1”
― Dave Oliver, Against the Tide: Rickover's Leadership Principles and the Rise of the Nuclear Navy

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”
― Hyman G. Rickover

“Nevertheless, the mere spark of an unsuccessful revolution is often sufficient to breed other revolutionaries, and Zumwalt broke some ancient glass that could not be replaced, no matter how hard fools later tried.”
― Dave Oliver, Against the Tide: Rickover's Leadership Principles and the Rise of the Nuclear Navy

“Uneducated citizens are potentially as dangerous to the proper functioning of our democratic institutions as are uneducated workers when they handle complicated machinery.”
― Hyman George Rickover, The Never-Ending Challenge of Engineering: Admiral H.G. Rickover in His Own Words