Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot Quotes

“Stress is essential to leadership. Living with stress, knowing how to handle pressure, is necessary for survival. It is related to man's ability to wrest control of his own destiny from the circumstances that surround him or, if you like, to prevail over technology.”
― Jim Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“George Bernard Shaw said that most people who fail complain that they are the victims of circumstances. Those who get on in this world, he said, are those who go out and look for the right circumstances. And if they can't find them they make their own.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“THOSE WHO STUDY the rise and fall of civilizations learn that no shortcoming has been as surely fatal to republics as a dearth of public virtue, the unwillingness of those who govern to place the value of their society above personal interest.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“What are the benefits of a Stoic life?” I would probably say, “It is an ancient and honorable package of advice on how to stay out of the clutches of those who are trying to get you on the hook, trying to give you a feeling of obligation, trying to get moral leverage on you, to force you to bend to their will.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“About a month after I returned from Vietnam, one of my former prison mates came running to me after a reunion at the Naval Academy. He told me with glee, "This is really great, you won't believe how this country has advanced. They've practically done away with the plebe year at the academy, and they've got computers in the basement of Bancroft Hall." I thought, "Hell, if there was anything that helped us get through those eight years it was plebe year, and if anything screwed up that war, it was computers.”
― Jim Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“At its best, citizenship finds an equilibrium between two essential ingredients -- that of rights and that of duties. When the idea of citizenship is losing its grip, one or the other of these elements becomes eroded. Either freedom is on the losing end, or the sense of duty, of obligation, goes down the drain. We are living in a time when the idea of citizenship has been seriously weakened. We have a strong sense of the rights of a citizen. But we've lost much of the sense of the corresponding duties and obligations of citizenship.”
― Jim Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Integrity is a powerful word that derives from a specific concept. It describes a person who is integrated, blended into a whole, as opposed to a person of many parts, many faces, many disconnects. The word relates to the ancients' distinction between living and living well. Contrary to popular thought, a person of integrity is typically easygoing with a sense of humor. He knows himself, reflects a definite and thoughtful set of preferences and aspirations, and is thus reliable. Knowing he is whole, he is not preoccupied with riding the rest of continual anxiety but is free to ride the crest of delight with life!”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Adversity doth best induce virtue . . . while luxury doth best induce vice.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Rewards and penalties are totally random; knaves thrive and saints go hungry.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“But what I'm saying is that whenever I've been in trouble spots -- in crises (and I've been in a lot of trouble and in a lot of crises) -- the sine qua non of a leader has lain not in his chesslike grasp of issues and the options they portend, not in his style of management, not in his skill at processing information, but in his having the character, the heart, to deal spontaneously, honorably, and candidly with people, perplexities, and principles.”
― Jim Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“It is my purpose, as one who lived and acted in these days . . . to show how the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous, how the councils of prudence and restraint may become the prime agents of mortal danger ... and how the middle course, adopted from desires for safety and a quiet life may he found to lead direct to the bull's-eye of disaster.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“The more intense the common danger, the quicker the "me-first" selfishness melts. In our situation, at about the two-year point, I believe most of us were thinking of that faceless friend next door-that sole point of contact we had with our civilization, that lovely, intricate human thing we had never seen-in terms of love in the highest sense. By later comparing notes with others, I found I was not alone in becoming so noble and righteous in that solitude that I could hardly stand myself.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“It is the future that we are more likely to think of immediately when the idea of progress is brought up," says Robert Nisbet, "but it was only when men became conscious of a long past . . . that a consciousness of progressive movement from past to present became possible" (History of the Idea of Progress, New York, 1980, p. 323).”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“I found that there are many examples of that in the literature. Some of you may have read the book Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, veteran of the Holocaust and a psychologist and lecturer. He says that the big threats to morale in the crucible are not the pessimists but the incurable vocal and persistent optimists. That being so, think how much more damage gratuitous statements of political or religious dissent could do to people close to the wire. It is easy to forget that, in this age of free speech at any cost.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Numberless soldiers have died, more or less willingly, not for country or honor or religious faith or for any other abstract good, but because they realized that by fleeing their posts and rescuing themselves, they would expose their companions to greater danger. Such loyalty to the group is the essence of fighting morale. The commander who can preserve and strengthen it knows that all other physical and psychological factors are little in comparison. The feeling of loyalty, it is clear, is the result and not the cause of comradeship. Comrades are loyal to each other spontaneously and without any need for reasons. Men may learn to be loyal out of fear or rational conviction, loyal even to those they dislike.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Aristotle: “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity.” I had lived in the truth of that for all those years.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“the sine qua non of a leader has lain not in his chesslike grasp of issues and the options they portend, not in his style of management, not in his skill at processing information, but in his having the character, the heart, to deal spontaneously, honorably, and candidly with people, perplexities, and principles.”
― James B. Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Honest men in prison know that there is no such thing as "brainwashing" or "breaking." These expressions of self-delusion never find use behind bars. They are just unfortunate metaphors that allow people outside prison to be less uncomfortable in discussing human limitations.”
― Jim Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

“Let me start with the overobvious, boxed in a cliché, wrapped in some truisms.”
― Jim Stockdale, Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot