The sensation of dying is sweet, sensuous, placid. It is the easiest thing in the world to die. The hardest is to live.

Fighting in the air is not sport. It is scientific murder.

The smallest amount of vanity is fatal in aeroplane fighting. Selfdistrust rather is the quality to which many a pilot owes his protracted existence.

There is a peculiar gratification in receiving congratulations from one's squadron for a victory in the air. It is worth more to a pilot than the applause of the whole outside world.

I've cheated the Grim Reaper more times than anyone I know, and I'll fight like a wildcat until they nail the lid of my pine box down on me.

Aviation is proof that given, the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.

Let the moment come when nothing is left but life, and you will find that you do not hesitate over the fate of material possessions.