Neil Armstrong Quotes

Neil Armstrong delivers thoughtful reflections on challenge and purpose, ideal for those seeking uplifting insight.

17 quotes

1. I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul ... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.

2. Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

3. That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

4. I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.

5. Pilots take no special joy in walking. Pilots like flying.

6. NASA has been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve. It's sad that we are turning the programme in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation and stimulation it provides to young people.

7. I have been in relatively high-risk businesses all of my adult life. Few of the others, however, had the possibility of direct gains in knowledge which this one had. I have confidence in the equipment, the planning, the training. I suspect that on a risk-gain ratio, this project would compare very, very favorably with those to which I've been accustomed on the past 20 years.

8. Damn I really did it. I blew the first words on the moon, didn't I?

9. Fear is not an unknown emotion to us.

10. I fully expected that, by the end of the century, we would have achieved substantially more than we actually did.

11. As a boy, because I was born and raised in Ohio, about 60 miles north of Dayton, the legends of the Wrights have been in my memories as long as I can remember.

12. The single thing which makes any man happiest is the realization that he has worked up to the limits of his ability, his capacity. It's all the better, of course, if this work has made a contribution to knowledge, or toward moving the human race a little farther forward.

13. I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.

14. Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next 10.

15. Lindsay Lohan isn't a DJ, but because of her celebrity power she can do a gig somewhere, put her name on a flyer, and she'll probably bring in more people and make more money than I ever will.

16. The exciting part for me, as a pilot, was the landing on the moon. That was the time that we had achieved the national goal of putting Americans on the moon. The landing approach was, by far, the most difficult and challenging part of the flight. Walking on the lunar surface was very interesting, but it was something we looked on as reasonably safe and predictable. So the feeling of elation accompanied the landing rather than the walking.

17. Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.