Horatio Nelson famous quotes

Recollect that you must be a seaman to be an officer and also that you cannot be a good officer without being a gentleman.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Gentleman #Officers

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

#Mistake #Gentleman #Enemy

England expects that every man will do his duty.
-- Horatio Nelson

#War #Men #England

Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Differences #Victory #Defeat

Desperate affairs require desperate measures.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Affair #Desperate

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

#Humor #Safety #Saving

Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Pain #War #Sea

I cannot command winds and weather.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Wind #Weather #Command

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 sure to direct my steps.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Sight #Done #Fields

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

#War #Understanding #Use

Thank God I have done my duty.
-- Horatio Nelson

#War #Thank God #Done

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Kings #War #Men

Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Neutrality #Break #Made

Buonaparte has often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port; but know he finds, I fancy, if Emperors hear the truth, that his fleet suffers more in a night than ours in one year.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Night #Order #Years

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Military #Taken #Done

England expects every man to do his duty
-- Horatio Nelson

#Men #England #Duty

I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Opinion

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Fighting #Men #Hands

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

#Men #Anxiety #Battle

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Running #Long #House

The business of the English commander-in-chief being first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Mean #Enemy #Battle

My greatest happiness is to serve my gracious King and Country and I am envious only of glory; for if it be a sin to covet glory I am the most offending soul alive.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Country #Kings #Offending

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

#Love #Passion #Foundation

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

#Naval

I will dine nowhere without your consent although with my present feelings I might be trusted with fifty virgins naked in a dark room.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Love #Dark #Feelings

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

#Fighting #Sea #Chance

I have a right to be blind sometimes.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Risk #Management #Sometimes

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

#Character #Names #Disgrace

Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Devil #Treats

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

#War #Bed #May

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

#Courage #War #Enemy

Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Country #Believe #Forgiving

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Hands #Arms #Haste

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

#Honour

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

#Eye #Sometimes #Blind

What the country needs is the annihilation of the enemy.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Country #War #Enemy

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

#War #Believe #Done

Frigates are the eyes of a fleet.
-- Horatio Nelson

#War #Eye

First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.
-- Horatio Nelson

#War #Victory #Use

A ship's a fool to fight a fort.
-- Horatio Nelson

#War #Fighting #Ships

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Trust No One #Opportunity #Justice

I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour before my time.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Change #Success In Life #Hours

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

#Kissing #Thank God #Kiss Me

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.
-- Horatio Nelson

#Kings #Hate #Men