Naval Life Quotes

When I was a toddler, my father cut hair in the townhouse we had shared together in Long Beach, California, where Dad was stationed with the U.S. Navy. The buzz of clippers consistently hummed as he gave fades to his coworkers, my uncles, and my brother, but his clippers were never oiled and plugged in for my head.

Men o' war were to be a part of the fabric of my life for the next half-century.

I joined the Navy hoping to be submariner and ended up in the sub service aboard a tender in the Pacific.

On the 28th the ship's company received two months pay in advance, and on the following morning we worked out to St. Helen's, where we were obliged to anchor.

Baseball in the Navy always was much more fun than it had been in the major leagues.

At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect.

I wanted to be an artist. I was studying art. I wanted to be a great painter. When I went into the Navy, there wasn't much to draw at sea. So I began writing, and I began reading a lot.

Before the BBC, I joined the Navy in order to travel.

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

My stepfather was in the navy, so I got to know a side of Chile that is not what you would expect from an artist.

They will not be pleased. But they know we must catch the monsoon with a well-found ship; and they know they are in the Navy--they have chosen their cake, and must lie on it.' You mean, they cannot have their bed and eat it.' No, no, it is not quite that either. I mean--I wish you would not confuse my mind, Stephen.