Horatio Nelson Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  Horatio Nelson

  Mistake, Gentleman, Enemy

  172 Copy quote

• I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest.

  Horatio Nelson

  Opinion

  49 Copy quote

• England expects that every man will do his duty.

  Horatio Nelson

  War, Men, England

  Horatio Nelson, Nicholas Harris Nicolas (2011). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.149, Cambridge University Press

  71 Copy quote

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

  Horatio Nelson

  Courage, War, Enemy

  Horatio Nelson, Nicholas Harris Nicolas (2011). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.91, Cambridge University Press

  17 Copy quote

• In Sea affairs, nothing is impossible, and nothing is improbable.

  Horatio Nelson

  Sea, Impossible, Affair

  Horatio Nelson (1846). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.133

  50 Copy quote

• 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, Punctuality

  78 Copy quote

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

  Horatio Nelson

  Victory And Defeat, Differences, Minutes

  "Jessie Peabody. Sea Fighters from Drake to Farragut". Book by Jessie Peabody Frothingham, 1902.

  76 Copy quote

• Firstly, you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own respecting 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 do the devil.

  Horatio Nelson

  Kings, Hate, Men

  Horatio Nelson's advice to his Midshipmen (1793) as quoted in "Memoirs of the Life of Vice-Admiral, Lord Viscount Nelson, K.B., Duke of Bronte, Etc., Etc., Etc, Volume 2" edited by Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (p. 580), 1849.

  62 Copy quote

• Desperate affairs require desperate measures.

  Horatio Nelson

  Desperate Measures, Affair, Horatio

  "The Book of Military Quotations". Book by Peter G. Tsouras (p. 54), 1992.

  62 Copy quote

• A fleet of British ships at war are the best negotiators.

  Horatio Nelson

  War, Ships, British

  1801 Letter to Lady Hamilton, Mar, before the Battle of Copenhagen.

  55 Copy quote

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

  Horatio Nelson

  Humor, Safety, Saving

  51 Copy quote

• 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, Seamen

  Horatio Nelson (1846). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.214

  85 Copy quote

• First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.

  Horatio Nelson

  Inspirational, War, Victory

  Horatio Nelson's remark before the battle of the Nile, August 1, 1797.

  18 Copy quote

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

  Horatio Nelson

  Men, Anxiety, Battle

  Attributed to Locker's Greenwich Gallery article "Torrington" in Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan "The Life of Nelson, Volume 2: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain" (p. 52), 1897.

  48 Copy quote

• Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian.

  Horatio Nelson

  Naval, Frenchmen, Maritime

  40 Copy quote

• The politics of courts are so mean that private people would be ashamed to act in the same way; all is trick and finesse, to which the common cause is sacrificed.

  Horatio Nelson

  Mean, People, Would Be

  Horatio Nelson, Nicholas Harris Nicolas (2011). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.88, Cambridge University Press

  21 Copy quote

• I cannot command winds and weather.

  Horatio Nelson

  Wind, Weather, Horatio

  Horatio Nelson, Nicholas Harris Nicolas (2011). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.61, Cambridge University Press

  15 Copy quote

• 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

  26 Copy quote

• To do nothing was disgraceful; therefore I made use of my understanding.

  Horatio Nelson

  War, Understanding, Use

  Horatio Nelson, Nicholas Harris Nicolas (2011). “The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson”, p.41, Cambridge University Press

  13 Copy quote

• What the country needs is the annihilation of the enemy.

  Horatio Nelson

  Country, War, Enemy

  24 Copy quote

• 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

  Horatio Nelson's letter to his mistress Lady Hamilton, 1800.

  18 Copy quote

• Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.

  Horatio Nelson

  Devil, Treats, Frenchmen

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  57 Copy quote

• 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

  44 Copy quote

• 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

  1801 Said to Captain Foley during the Battle of Copenhagen, 2 Apr. Nelson disregarded the order of his superior, Admiral Hyde-Parker, to break off action and went on to win the engagement.

  12 Copy quote

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