Chester W. Nimitz Quotes

God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.

They fought together as brothers in arms; they died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation.

Leadership consists of picking good men and helping them do their best.

We shall never forget that it was our submarines that held the lines against the enemy while our fleets replaced losses and repaired wounds.

When you're in command, command.

By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

When I assumed command of the Pacific Fleet in 31 December, 1941; our submarines were already operating against the enemy, the only units of the Fleet that could come to grips with the Japanese for months to come. It was to the Submarine Force that I looked to carry the load until our great industrial activity could produce the weapons we so sorely needed to carry the war to the enemy. It is to the everlasting honor and glory of our submarine personnel that they never failed us in our days of peril.

It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it will not be fought on U.S. soil.

A ship is always referred to as 'she' because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.

Luck can be attributed to a well-conceived plan carried out by a well-trained and indoctrinated task group.

If you're not making waves, you're not under weigh.

The U.S.'s major strength factor and weapon is its economy. If you cripple it, you cripple the military.

Some of the best advice I've had comes from junior officers and enlisted men.

I have just taken on a great responsibility. I will do my utmost to meet it.

The battle of Iwo Island has been won. The United States Marines by their individual and collective courage have conquered a base which is as necessary to us in our continuing forward movement toward final victory as it was vital to the enemy in staving off ultimate defeat.

Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

I felt that it was an unnecessary loss of civilian life... We had them beaten. They hadn't enough food, they couldn't do anything.

The best that science can devise and that naval organization can provide must be regarded only as an aid, and never as a substitute for good seamanship.

Hindsight is notably cleverer than foresight.

The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace. The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military point of view, in the defeat of Japan.

The enemy of our games was always Japan, and the courses were so thorough that after the start of World War II, nothing that happened in the Pacific was strange or unexpected.

Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted.

We must not again underestimate the Japanese.

Through the skill and devotion to duty of their armed forces of all branches in the Midway area our citizens can now rejoice that a momentous victory is in the making.

No other island received as much preliminary pounding as did Iwo Jima.