Island in the Sky Quotes

“As the years go by, he returns to this invisible world rather than to earth for peace and solace. There also he finds a profound enchantment, although he can seldom describe it. He can discuss it with others of his kind, and because they too know and feel its power they understand. But his attempts to communicate his feelings to his wife or other earthly confidants invariably end in failure. Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell. Their world is like a magic island in which the factors of life and death assume their proper values. Thinking becomes clear because there are no earthly foibles or embellishments to confuse it. Professional pilots are, of necessity, uncomplicated, simple men. Their thinking must remain straightforward, or they die—violently.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“It was astonishing how easy it was to die.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“... it was something that frequently sagged and melted away when a man stood alone with eternity, as it had done with Frank Lovatt.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“It must have been the deep human strength of survival–something which, although their hopes had been openly murdered that afternoon, made them hope again and so remain capable of reason.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“They were tired physically from cranking the emergency radio and gathering wood for the fire, but most of all they were tired of hoping.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“… for he was a confident man whose confidence had been shaken, and so suffered far more than those who were never certain.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“In fear, some men blamed others for their circumstance. Then there were those like Murray who clasped all blame tightly to themselves and in so doing stifled all chance of recovery.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“It was the things you couldn't see that counted—the hidden, never tangible series of upper world plots and fancies. They invariably joined company with the unwary, always with an air of deceptive innocence. They frequently killed the unwary.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“Moon’s mind was tired and he was still cold. He wanted a long drink of whiskey and time to think things over. He wanted time to put down his emotions—Dooley wouldn’t be in a certain place just because he thought, or rather felt, that he should be.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“Any two of these men could come together and the things that were left unsaid were as well understood as the things said.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“When he climbed into the Penelope or any other airplane, the same change always came over him and the character of the change was so strong that even Stutz himself was aware of it. He exchanged his earthly freedom of thinking for what had to be a series of disciplined facts. To absorb and segregate these facts, all in their right and proper order, was his duty, a$ it was of any professional pilot. Not only was it his duty but it was his sole defense against dependency on luck, and although he was aware of the power of luck, it was indicative that Stutz never considered it as a means to an end as long as he was flying.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“Because every urge but survival had been reduced to nothing, they had become a mutual will, like that which caused whole peoples to unite in desperation.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky

“A stood for altimeter. It told how high a man flew. B stood for boost. It told the power in the engines. C stood for compass. It told in which direction a man was proceeding. It was delightfully simple.”
― Ernest K. Gann, Island in the Sky