Horatio Nelson, also known as First Viscount Nelson, was a famous flag officer of the Royal Navy.Viscount Nelson was best known for his unconventional tactics and inspirational leadership that led him to win several battles during the Napoleonic Wars. Apart from that, he also supervised the blockade of the French Fleet at Toulon and chased them to the West Indies.Nelson’s journey to becoming a famous figure in the history of England started during the battle of Cape St Vincent, where he played a pivotal role as the HMS Captain. Subsequently, Nelson participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Battle of the Nile. Even though he had to face defeat in the first one, he snatched victory in the latter over the French.Listed below, you will find some of Nelson’s best quotes, including his motto: “let he who has earned it bear the palm”, collected from sources like ‘Sea Fighters From Drake To Farragut’ by Jessie Peabody Frothingham, ‘The Life Of Nelson: The Embodiment Of The Sea Power Of Great Britain’ by Alfred Thayer Mahan, and ‘The Letters Of Lord Nelson To Lady Hamilton’ (Vol. II).Famous Horatio Nelson QuotesThis section contains the most famous quotes from First Viscount Nelson.“My seamen are now what British seamen ought to be … almost invincible; they really mind shot no more than peas.““Now I can do no more. We must trust to the Great Disposer of all Events and the Justice of our Cause. I thank God for this great opportunity of doing my Duty.”- ‘The Life Of Admiral Lord Nelson, K.B, From His Lordship’s Manuscripts’ (p. 667), John McArthur and Stanier Clarke.“My love is founded on esteem, the only foundation that can make the passion last.““There is no way of dealing with the Frenchman but to knock him down - to be civil to them is to be laughed at."“My character and good name are in my own keeping. Life with disgrace is dreadful. A glorious death is to be envied.” - ‘Nelson’s Letters To His Wife And Other Documents, Horatio Nelson (edited by Navy Records Society).“I think it will surprise and confound the enemy. They won’t know what I am about. It will bring forward a pell-mell battle, and that is what I want."“Duty is the great business of a sea officer; all private considerations must give way to it, however painful it may be.” - ‘Letter to Frances Nisbet’.“In Sea affairs, nothing is impossible, and nothing is improbable."“Let me alone: I have yet my legs and one arm. Tell the surgeon to make haste and his instruments. I know I must lose my right arm, so the sooner it’s off the better.” - July 24, 1797.“The politics of courts are so mean that private people would be ashamed to act in the same way; all is trick and finesse, to which the common cause is sacrificed.““Laurels grow in the Bay of Biscay, I hope a bed of them may be found in the Mediterranean.““I could not tread these perilous paths in safety if I did not keep a saving sense of humour."“If a man consults whether he is to fight when he has the power in his own hands, it is certain that his opinion is against fighting.” - Statement, 1801.“No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."“Success, I trust–indeed have little doubt–will crown our zealous and well-meant endeavours: if not, our Country will, I believe, sooner forgive an Officer for attacking his Enemy than for letting it alone.” - ‘The Dispatches And Letter Of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson’.“I believe my arrival was most welcome, not only to the Commander of the Fleet but almost to every individual in it.““Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake we must not interrupt him too soon.““The Neapolitan officers did not lose much honour, for God knows they had not much to lose - but they lost all they had.““I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.“Inspirational Horatio Nelson QuotesFind some of the best Horatio Nelson quotes that will inspire you.(Here, at Kidadl, you will get all the exciting quotes from the legendary flag officer Horatio Nelson.)“The measure may be thought bold, but I am of the opinion the boldest are the safest.” - ‘The Book Of Military Quotations’, Peter G. Tsouras, March 24, 1801.“Never mind maneuvers always go at them.” - Advice to Captain Thomas Cochran RN.“Unfit as my ship was, I had nothing left for the honour of our country but to sail, which I did in two hours afterward.““Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made."“It is warm work, and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment. But mark you! I would not be elsewhere for thousands.” - At the Battle of Copenhagen.“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.” - March 1805.“Recollect that you must be a seaman to be an officer and also that you cannot be a good officer without being a gentleman.““I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour before my time.““When I follow my own head, I am, in general, much more correct in my judgment than following the opinion of others.“Best Horatio Nelson QuotesThis section contains some of the best Horatio Nelson quotes, recorded by the likes of Jessie Peabody, Edward Pelham Brenton, and Alfred Thayer Mahan.“Had we taken ten sails, and let the eleventh to escape, being able to get at her, I could never have called it well done.““The defeat of the combined French and Spanish fleets lifted the very real threat of an invasion of Britain and it was greeted by the nation with huge relief.““What the country needs is the annihilation of the enemy.““A ship’s a fool to fight a fort."“Bonaparte 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.” - ‘The Naval History Of Great Britain’ (third volume), Edward Pelham Brenton.“It is nonsense, Mr. Burke, to suppose I can live. My sufferings are great but they will soon be over."“The bravest man feels an anxiety ‘circa praecordia’ as he enters the battle; but he dreads disgrace yet more.” - ‘The Life Of Nelson: The Embodiment Of The Sea Power Of Great Britain’ (Vol. II), Alfred Thayer Mahan.“There is in the handling of these Transatlantic ships a nucleus of trouble for the Navy of Great Britain.” - ‘The Royal Navy: Its Influence In English History And In The Growth Of Empire’, John Leyland.“My greatest happiness is to serve my gracious King and Country and I am envious only of glory; for if it be a sin to covet glory I am the most offending soul alive.” - Letter to Lady Hamilton, 1800.“Time is everything; five minutes make the difference between victory and defeat.” - ‘Sea Fighters From Drake To Farragut’, Jessie Peabody Frothingham.“Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight above all.““The business of the English commander-in-chief being first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided..“Short Horatio Nelson QuotesRead some short and sweet one-liners by Viscount Horatio Nelson that will make your day, and inspire you to be a better version of yourself.“Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.““It is my turn now; and if I come back, it is yours."“I cannot, if I am in the field for glory, be kept out of sight.” - ‘The Dispatches And Letters Of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson With Notes’, Letter to Frances Nelson, August 2, 1796.“Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub.” - ‘Horatio Nelson’ (p. 331) (accounts of Walter Burke, Alexander Scott, and Chevalier), Tom Pocock.“…but I cannot command winds and weather.” -‘The Dispatches And Letter Of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson’.“England expects that every man will do his duty.” - Chapter Nine (A Signal To The British Fleet), ‘Life Of Nelson’, Viscount Nelson.“First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can."“Thank God, I have done my duty.” - 1805, during the Battle of Trafalgar.“I am myself a Norfolk man.““Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian."“In honour I gained them, and in honour I will die with them.” - ‘Life Of Nelson’, Robert Southey.“Desperate affairs require desperate measures.““You must hate a Frenchman as you do the devil.““There can be no place for self entirely."“Victory or Westminster Abbey.” - Chapter Four (In the battle off Cape Vincent, giving an order for boarding the San Josef), ‘Life Of Nelson Volume I’, Robert Southey.“I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes.” - April 2, 1801, at the battle of Copenhagen (while proceeding towards the Danish fleet with a telescope over his blind eye.)“Aft the more honour, forward the better man."“Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight beyond all others.““Hardy, I do believe they have done it at last… my backbone is shot through.““I am Lord Nelson. See, here’s my fin.’ - ‘Nelson And The Hamiltons’ (p. 238), Jack Russell.“A fleet of British ships at war are the best negotiators.““Whoever gains the palm by merit, let him hold it."“Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey.” - Chapter Five (Before the Battle of the Nile), ‘Life Of Nelson’, Robert Southey.“Wherever there is anything to be done, there Providence is sure to direct my steps.” - Letter to Frances Nelson.“Frigates are the eyes of a fleet.”
Horatio Nelson, also known as First Viscount Nelson, was a famous flag officer of the Royal Navy.
