You concentrate on what you are doing, to do the best job you can, to stay out of a serious situation. That’s the way the X-1 was.

You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can't, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don't give up.

Just before you break through the sound barrier, the cockpit shakes the most.

You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.

If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing.

Rules are made for people who aren't willing to make up their own.

The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down.

Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always a high priority in whatever I was doing.

What good does it do to be afraid? It doesn't help anything. You better try and figure out what's happening and correct it.

The secret of my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day.

The best pilots fly more than the others; that's why they're the best.

I sense a learning: that much dumber people than you end up in charge.

Some days are just bad days, that's all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that's just the way it is!

By the winter of 1945-1946, the Russian peoples were being warned of the dangers from the West

Jealousy knows more than truth does.

I'm a runner first before anything else.

I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do.

You sure you don’t want to kiss me good-bye, baby?

Follow your enthusiasm. It's something I've always believed in. Find those parts of your life you enjoy the most. Do what you enjoy doing.

One who is allowed to sin, sins less

She is well practiced in the art of losing herself.