[A difficult childhood gave me] a kind of cocky confidence. ... I could never have so little that I hadn't had less. It took away my fear.

I might have been born in a hovel, but I determined to travel with the wind and the stars.

I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand... Adventure is a state of mind and spirit.

I can cure your men of walking off the [flight] program. Let's put on the girls.

In the case of an airplane, speed is determined by the outcome of the conflict between thrust of the power and drag of the plane. So it also is with humans.

Earthbound souls know only the underside of the atmosphere in which they live . . . but go higher - above the dust and water vapor - and the sky turns dark until one can see the stars at noon.

Capacity never lacks opportunity. It cannot remain undiscovered because it is sought by too many anxious to use it.

I'd have given my right eye to be an astronaut.

It comes with faith, for with complete faith there is no fear of what faces you in life or death.

And to live without risk for me would have been tantamount to death.

I might have been born in a hovel but I am determined to travel with the wind and the stars.

What you think repeatedly will happen almost certainly.

Stop groveling, stop whining and start working!

Unfortunately, we don't get a second chance. We've already played them twice.

I believe that thinking about the problem … is your problem.

I've never been one to just do what I'm told. I don't say that necessarily with pride, it's just something that has gotten me in trouble before.

To me, if the writing doesn't have rhythm, it feels dead. I lose all confidence. The music has to emerge to feel confident enough to move on to the next major chapter.

No one has a human right to hide from justice behind a veil.

With cropping, a new integrity appears and winning abstractions flutter up like butterflies. You can afford to be critical, discriminating, innocent, open-minded, charmed, beguiled or bamboozled.

Devotion to duty is the highest form of worship of God.

We may justly condemn ourselves as the greatest sinners we know because we know more of the folly of our own heart than we do of other people's.