To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. To fly is everything.

— Otto Lilienthal

Aeronautics was neither an industry nor a science. It was a miracle.

— Igor Sikorsky

To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home.

— Anonymous

A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do
new things.

- Rear Admiral Grace Murray Brewster Hoppe

Caution: Cape does not enable user to fly.

— Batman costume warning label, Wal-Mart, 1995.

Aviation is proof, that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the
impossible.

— Eddie Rickenbacker

Do not spin this aircraft. If the aircraft does enter a spin it will return to earth
without further attention on the part of the aeronaut.

— First handbook issued with the Curtis-Wright flyer.

Do not let yourself be forced into doing anything before you are ready.

— Wilbur Wright

In flying I have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are usually far
more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks.

— Wilbur Wright in a letter to his father, September 1900.

Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than
the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.

— Captain A. G. Lamplugh, British Aviation Insurance Group, London. Circa

early 1930's.
When you get it right mighty beasts float up into the sky. When you get it wrong
people die.

— Roger Bacon, c. 1384.

Flying is so many parts skill, so many parts planning, so many parts

maintenance, and so many parts luck. The trick is to reduce the luck by
increasing the others.

— David L. Baker

Take nothing for granted; do not jump to conclusions; follow every possible clue
to the extent of usefulness . . . . Apply the principle that there is no limit to the
amount of effort justified to prevent the recurrence of one aircraft accident or the
loss of one life.

— Accident Investigation Manual of the U.S. Air Force.

Complacency or a false sense of security should not be allowed to develop as a

result of long periods without an accident or serious incident. An organization
with a good safety record is not necessarily a safe organization.

— International Civil Aviation Organization, 'Accident Prevention Manual, 1984