Ernest K. Gann Quotes

8 Sourced Quotes

Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart.

Ernest K. Gann
Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.

Ernest K. Gann
If we slide into one of those rare moments of military honesty, we realize that the technical demands of modern warfare are so complex a considerable percentage of our material is bound to malfunction even before it is deployed against a foe. We no longer waste manpower by carrying the flag into battle. Instead we need battalions of electronic engineers to keep the terrible machinery grinding.

Ernest K. Gann
There are two kinds of airplanes - those you fly and those that fly you... You must have a distinct understanding at the very start as to who is the boss.

Ernest K. Gann
Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.

Ernest K. Gann
He knew that we gave constant lip service to the dictates of safety and howled like Christians condemned to the arena if any compromise were made of it. He knew we were seekers after ease, suspicious, egotistic, and stubborn to a fault. He also knew that none of us would have continued our careers unless we had always been, and still were, helpless before this opportunity to take a chance.

Ernest K. Gann
No, Mother dear, I do not hop into bed with every man I meet, despite your nasty little secret thoughts, but I do very much enjoy a more than occasional roll in the hay, which, if I have my statistics right, is a good deal more often than the average wife enjoys.

Ernest K. Gann
I am drawn to the new chart with all of its colorful intricacies as a gourmet must anticipate the details of a feast... I shall keep them forever. As stunning exciting proof that a proper mixture of science and art is not only possible but a blessed union.

Ernest K. Gann