"Since human wisdom cannot secure us from accidents, it is the greatest effort of reason to bear them..." — John Paul Jones

It is certainly for the interest of the service that a cordial interchange of civilities should subsist between superior and inferior officers, and therefore, it is bad policy in superiors to behave towards their inferiors indiscriminately, as though they were of a lower species.

I have sacrificed not only my favorite scheme of life, but the softer affections of the heart, and my prospects of domestic happiness, and I am ready to sacrifice my life also, with cheerfulness, if that forfeiture could restore peace and good will among mankind.

I profess myself a citizen of the world, totally unfettered by the little, mean distinctions of climate or of country, which diminish the benevolence of the heart and set bounds to philanthropy.

I propose not our enemies as an example for our general imitation, yet, as their navy is the best regulated of any in the world, we must, in some degree, imitate them and aim at such farther improvement as may one day make ours vie with - and exceed - theirs.