Never tell anyone outside my staff that the Submarine Force and the First Air Fleet were responsible for the failure at Midway. The failure at Midway was mine.

The fiercest serpent may be overcome by a swarm of ants.

A brilliant man would find a way not to fight a war.

The fate of the Empire rests on this enterprise. Every man must devote himself totally to the task in hand.

Today, as chief Of the guardians of the seas Of the land of the dawn, I gaze up with awe At the rising sun!

A military man can scarcely pride himself on having smitten a sleeping enemy; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten.

I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

A man of real purpose puts his faith in himself always. Sometimes he refuses even to put his faith in the gods. So from time to time, he falls into error.

Dismiss any thought that leads to discouragement.

A wise man need only the guidance of his own heart.

Before you go out into the world, wash your face in the clear crystal of praise. Bury each yesterday in the fine linen and spices of thankfulness.

When a man is shooting a handgun, it's just like he is shooting because that's his job, and he has no other choice. It's no good. When a girl is shooting a handgun, it's really something.

...I think that ideally that is how a company works. It becomes a place of ideas, not a place of position.

My non-violence bids me dedicate myself to the service of the minorities.

It is true that the discerning intellect of the world is always much in advance of the creative, so that there are competent judges of the best book, and few writers of the best books.

This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely.

Peter Mandelson is the only man I know who can skulk in broad daylight.

Our conviction that we are free to choose what we make of a photograph hides the complicity to which we are recruited in the very act of looking.