List of Eddie Rickenbacker Quotes

Flying Is One Of The Safest Jobs In The Army As Long As You Don't Drop Out. If You Do Drop Out, You Are A Dead Man, And Dropping Out Means, Usually, That You Have Made A Mistake Or Let Go Of Your Grip.

Within The Next Few Decades, Autos Will Have Folding Wings That Can Be Spread When On A Straight Stretch Of Road So That The Machine Can Take To The Air.

And I Have Yet To Find One Single Individual Who Has Attained Conspicuous Success In Bringing Down Enemy Aeroplanes Who Can Be Said To Be Spoiled Either By His Successes Or By The Generous Congratulations Of His Comrades. If He Were Capable Of Being Spoiled He Would Not Have Had The Character To Have Won Continuous Victories, For The Smallest Amount Of Vanity Is Fatal In Aeroplane Fighting. Self-distrust Rather Is The Quality To Which Many A Pilot Owes His Protracted Existence.

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.

If A Thing Is Old, It Is A Sign That It Was Fit To Live. The Guarantee Of Continuity Is Quality.

When I Look Up And See The Sun Shining On The Patch Of White Clouds Up In The Blue, I Begin To Think How It Would Feel To Be Up Somewhere Above It Winging Swiftly Through The Clean Air, Watching The Earth Below.

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.

In This Business, You Find The Enemy, Then Go After And Destroy Him. Everything Else Is Rubbish!

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.

I Pay Those Guys To Fly, So Let Them Fly. I'll Be Damned If I'll Pay Them To Just Sit There.

The Experienced Fighting Pilot Does Not Take Unnecessary Risks. His Business In To Shoot Down Enemy Planes, Not To Get Shot Down. His Trained Hand And Eye And Judgment Are As Much A Part Of His Armament As His Machinegun, And A Fiftyfifty Chance Is The Worst He Will Take Or Should Take Except Where The Show Is Of The Kind That . . . Justifies The Sacrifice Of Plane Or Pilot.