Horatio Nelson

Thank God, I have done my duty.

It is nonsense, Mr. Burke, to suppose I can live. My sufferings are great but they will soon be over.

This is too warm work, Hardy, to last long.

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 great opportunity of doing my Duty.

England expects every Man will do his Duty.

When I am without orders and unexpected occurrences arrive I shall always act as I think the honour and glory of my King and Country demand. But in case signals can neither be seen or perfectly understood, no captain can do very wrong if …

Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight above all.

The business of the English Commander-in-Chief being first to bring an Enemy's 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 …

I am Lord Nelson. See, here's my fin.

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

... When he was on the eve of departure for one of his great expeditions the coachmaker said to him, "The carriage shall be at the door punctually at six o clock"; "A quarter before," said Nelson. "I have always been a quarter of an hour …

I cannot command winds and weather.

Desperate affairs require desperate measures.

The measure may be thought bold, but I am of the opinion the boldest are the safest.

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

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

Victory or Westminster Abbey.

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.

There is in the handling of these Transatlantic ships a nucleus of trouble for the Navy of Great Britain.

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.

To leave off action"? Well, damn me if I do! You know, Foley, I have only one eye,— I have a right to be blind sometimes . . . I really do not see the signal!

It is warm work; and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment. But mark you! I would not be elsewhere for thousands.

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.

I am myself a Norfolk man, and I glory in being so.