"As for your liberal education, I, too, can say ha, ha. We sailors are hardly educated at all. The only way to make a sea officer is to send him to sea, and to send him young. I have been afloat, more or less, since I was twelve; and most of my friends never went much beyond the dames school. All we know is our profession, if indeed we know thatNo: we are not the sort of men that educated, intelligent, well-brought-up young women cross a thousand miles of sea for. They like us well enough ashore, and are kind, and say Good old Tarpaulin when there is a victory. But they dont marry us, not unless they do it right away not unless we board them in our own smoke. Given time to reflect, as often as not they marry parsons or clever chaps at the barOf course you, Jack, are an educated man, in that sense. Besides, lawyers make notoriously bad husbands, for their habit of incessant prating; whereas your sailor has been schooled to mute obedience." -Paraphrased from P. O'Brian's HMS Surprise

"At midnight, CVW 7 will launch into the dark night, and strike their first blows of Operation Enduring Freedom, the war on terrorism.  For us this is a culminating point in space, a culminating point in time, and a culminating point in history. Our enemy is a group of religious fanatics, who pervert the peace of Islam and twist its meaning to justify the murder of thousands of innocents at the Twin Towers of New York, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. They hate us and attack us because they oppose all that is good about America. They hate us because we are prosperous.  They hate us because we are tolerant.  They hate us because we are happy.  Mostly, they hate us because we are free and because we will "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty."  Make no mistake - this is fight for Western Civilization.  If these monsters are not destroyed they will destroy us, and our children and children's children will live in fear forever."

            -Captain of the USS John F Kennedy in an address to the crew

"The seaman's moral law may seem strange to landsmen, even whimsical at times; but as we all know, pure reason is not enough, and illogical as their system may be, it does enable them to conduct these enormously complex machines from point to point, in spite of the elements.' - Patrick O'Brian

The Prayer of a Midshipman;

Eternal Father, Creator of the sea and land, whose Almighty Spirit broods over the great waters, whose Guiding Hand is over all, whose love never fails: help me to serve my coutry upon the sea in our Merchant Marine. Make me obedient to your Will. Strengthen me against temptation. Let me so live according to your Word that I will be a help to my shipmates and a source of pride to my Academy. Gently lead me, Lord, so I may be kind in my dealings with my family and appreciative of their sacrifices in my behalf. Give me the insight to see my own faults as well as those of others, and the will power to correct my own first. Grant me a sense of humor so that I may not lose my sense of proportion. Finally, strengthen my resolve, keep my hope high, and give me courage and a quiet mind so that I may become known as one whose word can be trusted and whose Watch is well kept. Amen.

[based on a prayer writen by RADM G. McLintock; USMS while he was a cadet/midshipman.]