War is a business in which a lot of people watch a few people get killed and are damn glad it wasn't them.

The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots. If you are not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you can only operate well by pretending to be one. All the shortcuts and economies and common-sense changes that your native intelligence suggests to you are mistakes. Learn to quash them. Constantly ask yourself, "How would I do this if I were a fool?" Throttle down your mind to a crawl. Then you will never go wrong.

Discount my partiality, but my report is that so far The Winds of War is looking good.

Every hour spent on the Caine was a great hour in all our lives-if you don't think so now you will later on, more and more.

I think it's a bit like coming to the end of a book. The plot's in its thickest, all the characters are in a mess, but you can see that there aren't fifty pages left, and you know that the finish can't be far off.

I try to write a certain amount each day, five days a week. A rule sometimes broken is better than no rule.

When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.