Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell.

Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.

Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.

There are two kinds of airplanes - those you fly and those that fly you . . . You must have a distinct understanding at the very start as to who is the boss.

Nobody who gets too damned relaxed builds up much flying time.

There is no more alluring airspace in the world than the slit up a China girl's dress.

Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart.

The emergencies you train for almost never happen. It's the one you can't train for that kills you.

MaCleod, since you've flown the SeaBee a lot you'll understand when I say it was the only airplane I ever owned that you could put in a dive, loose a cylinder and stall out!

I want a boat that drinks 6, eats 4, and sleeps 2.

It's remarkable how quickly a good and favorable wind can sweep away the maddening frustrations of shore living.

I love nature, I just don't want to get any of it on me.

Synchronicity occurs at the intersection of your awareness, response, perspective, and action.

In so many ways, segregation shaped me, and education liberated me.

Your mind simply cant focus forward and downward all at the same time.

detachment, n. Even when I detach, I care. You can be separate from a thing and still care about it.

The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.

How do you learn to pray? Well how do you learn to swim? Do you sit in a chair with your feet up drinking coke learning to swim? You get down and you struggle. That's how you learn to pray.

Curiosity is the best motive for writing: curiosity about the world at large, or about oneself.

Poets are regarded as handicapped writers whose work must be treated with a tender condescension, such as one accords the athletic achievements of basketball players confined to wheelchairs.

I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.