Skip to content

There are three things, young gentlemen, which you are constantly to bear in mind. Firstly, you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own respecting their propriety. Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and thirdly, you must hate a Frenchman, as you do the devil.

— Horatio Nelson Nelson's advice to his Midshipmen (1793)

Another quote →

More quotes by Horatio Nelson

"I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time and it has made a man of me."

First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.

England expects every Man will do his Duty.

The Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a peerage, or Westminster Abbey.

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.

All Horatio Nelson quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Horatio Nelson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.