[After a successful torpedo attack, and the sounds of the sinking ship — Das Boot

"Our patrol planes! Where are they? Answer that one, Herr Göring! The British have plenty of them! Talking big is all hes good for, that fat slob."

"[looking at a log of messages from other U-Boats] Our recent triumphs: "Dived to evade enemy aircraft; Lost contact." "Dived to evade destroyer; Depth charged." The British have stopped making mistakes."

"[After an alarm is sounded and an emergency dive is executed] April fool. Practice makes perfect."

"[referring to officers going to a cathouse the night before shipping out] Scared fuckers. They need sex like the infantry needs alcohol."

"[to Werner, while they stand on the bridge, sailing through rough seas] Theres nothing more beautiful than a submarine...and a sailboat! There are no better lines than those of a sailboat. I sailed on a three-masted schooner once. Gorgeous ship! It had holds the size of a cathedral! [he and Werner laugh]"

"[escaping from the British] They havent spotted us! Theyre all snoring in their bunks! Or you know what? Theyre drinking in the bar! Celebrating our sinking! Not yet, my friends. Not yet!"

"One of the first major steps in the direction of modern skepticism came through the victory of Occam over Aquinas in a controversy about language. The statement that modi essendi were replaced by modi significandi et intelligendi, or that ontological referents were abandoned in favor of pragmatic significations, describes broadly the change in philosophy which continues to our time. From Occam to Bacon, from Bacon to Hobbes, and from Hobbes to contemporary semanticists, the progression is clear: ideas become psychological figments, words become useful signs. ... To one completely committed to this realm of becoming, as are the empiricists, the claim to apprehend verities is a sign of . Probably we have here but a highly sophisticated expression of the doctrine that ideals are hallucination and that the only normal, sane person is the healthy extrovert, making instant, instinctive adjustments to the stimuli of the material world."

"To have success in science, you need some luck. But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck. And its not enough to be smart — lots of people are very bright and get nowhere in life. In my view, you have to combine intelligence with a willingness not to follow conventions when they block your path forward."

"I, too, believed it was impossible to change the existing society into one that would be for the benefit of all; neither could I espouse any given ideal for society. But [...] I felt that even if one did not have an ideal vision of society, one could have one’s work to do. Whether it was successful or not was not our concern; it was enough that we believed it to be a valid work. The accomplishment of that work, I believed, was what our real life was about. Yes. I want to carry out a work of my own; for I feel that by so doing our lives are rooted in the here and now, not in some far-off ideal goal."

"We have already mentioned what may, perhaps, appear paradoxical to some of our readers, — that the division of labour can be applied with equal success to mental as to mechanical operations, and that it ensures in both the same economy of time."

"The war was finished. It had lasted ten equivalent years and taken ten million lives. Thus it was neither of long duration nor of serious attrition. It hadnt any great significance; it was not intended to have. It did not prove a point, since all points had long ago been proven. What it did, perhaps, was to emphasize an aspect, sharpen a concept, underline a trend. On the whole it was a successful operation. Economically and ecologically it was of healthy effect, and who should grumble? And after wars, men go home. No, no, men start for home. Its not the same."

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. ... The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully."