Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté KBwas a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. He was noted for his inspirational leadership, superb grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics, all of which resulted in a number of decisive naval victories, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was wounded several times in combat, losing one arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the sight in one eye in Corsica. He was shot and...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWar Hero
Date of Birth29 September 1758
Whoever gains the palm by merit, let him hold it.
I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.
Buonaparte has often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port; but know he finds, I fancy, if Emperors hear the truth, that his fleet suffers more in a night than ours in one year.
Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.
I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal!
It is my turn now; and if I come back, it is yours.
No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.
I believe my arrival was most welcome, not only to the Commander of the Fleet but almost to every individual in it.
If I had been censured every time I have run my ship, or fleets under my command, into great danger, I should have long ago been out of the Service and never in the House of Peers.
A ship's a fool to fight a fort.
First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.
I cannot command winds and weather.
I cannot, if I am in the field of glory, be kept out of sight: wherever there is anything to be done, there Providence is sure to direct my steps.
There can be no place for self entirely