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Home Page and Other Nelson Resources
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Date |
Circumstances |
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1770 approx. |
Nelson was the only boy in his school brave enough to take pears from the master's tree. |
"I only took them because every other boy was afraid." |
| 1794 | Following the escape of the French fleet from Toulon | "Great talkers do the least, we see." |
| 1794 | At the surrender of Toulon | "I should have taken every Frenchman here without negotiating; even had the negotiations taken place, I would have had the French men-of-war and believe that the people of England will never blame an officer for taking a French line of battle ships." |
| 1794 | Before the siege of Calvi | "My ship's company behave most exceedingly well. They begin to look upon themselves as invincible, almost invulnerable. They really mind shot no more than peas." |
| 3 May 1794 | Letter during the attack on Bastia | "Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking the enemy, than for letting it alone." |
| 16 July 1794 | Of the object that blinded him at the siege of Calvi | "Such is the chance of War, it was within a hair's breadth of taking off my head." |
| 4 Aug 1794 | Hoping that he can match the success of Lord Howe at the Glorious 1st of June | "Laurels grow in the Bay of Biscay, - I hope a bed of them may be found in the Mediterranean." |
| 20 Sep 1794 | Showing Nelson's loyalty to the men who served under him in the Agamemnon | "I have been offered every Seventy-four which has fallen vacant in this Country, yet I could not bring myself to part with a Ship's company, with whom I have gone through such a series of hard service, as has never before, I believe, fallen to the lot of any one ship." |
| 31 Oct 1794 | Showing frustration at the lack of progress in the war | Our Allies are our burden. Had we left the Continent to themselves, we should have done well, and at half the expense. |
| 12 Nov 1794 | Total faith in his ship and his men | Rest assured that Agamemnon is not to be taken easily; no two-decked ship in the world, we flatter ourselves, is able to do it. |
| July 1795 | In a letter to his friend Cuthbert Collingwood | The orders I have given are strong, and I know not how my Admiral will approve of them, for they are, in a great measure, contrary to those he gave me; but the Service requires strong and vigorous measures to bring the war to a conclusion." |
| 1797 | After amputation of his right arm. | "A left-handed Admiral will never again be considered as useful, therefore the sooner I get to a very humble cottage the better, and make room for a better man to serve the State." |
| 1797 | After his failure at Teneriffe | "I am become a burden to my friends, and useless to my country." |
| 20 Jun 1798 | As he prepared his squadron for an action with the French | "Not a moment must be lost, it can never be regained." |
| 20 Jul 1798 | In a letter to Fanny | "Glory is my object, and that alone" |
| 20 Jul 1798 | In a letter to Sir William Hamilton | "The Devil's children have the Devils's luck" |
| 22 Jul 1798 | Still in pursuit of the French Fleet | "We shall sail with the first breeze, and be assured I will return either crowned with laurel, or covered with cypress." |
| 2 Aug 1798 | After the victory at th Battle of the Nile | >"Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene." |
| 3 Aug 1798 | After the victory at th Battle of the Nile | "Almighty God has blessed his Majesty's Arms in the late Battle, by a great Victory over the Fleet of the Enemy." |
| Mar 1799 | Letter from Palermo to the Duke of Clarence | "To serve my King and destroy the French I consider as the great order of all, from which little ones spring; and if one of those little ones militates against it, I go back to obey the great order." |
| 24 Mar 1801 | To Sir Hyde Parker, urging strong action against the Russians and Danes | "The measure may be thought bold, but I am of the opinion that the boldest are the safest." |
| 2 Apr 1801 | As related to Colonel William Parker during the Battle of Copenhagen | "He observed to me, with a smile, 'It is warm work, and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment'; and then, stopping at the gangway, he used an expression never to be erased from my memory, and said with emotion, 'But mark you, I would not be elsewhere for thousands.'" |
| 2 Apr 1801 | To his flag-captain Thomas Foley during the Battle of Copenhagen | "You know, Foley, I have only one eye - I have a right to be blind sometimes. I really do not see the signal." |
| 1801 | After the Battle of Copenhagen |
"Well, I have fought contrary to order and perhaps I shall be hanged. Never mind, let them!" |
| 7 Aug 1801 | In a letter to Lord St Vincent | "When we cannot do all we wish, we must do all we can." |
| Nov 1804 | In a letter to Hugh Elliot | "When I am without orders, and unexpected occurences arise, I shall always act as I think the honour and glory of my King and Country demand." |
| Date | Circumstances | Said ABOUT Nelson |
| 1782 | The future King William IV when serving as captain of the Albmarle | "...the merest boy of a captain I ever beheld; and his dress was worthy of attention. He had on a full-laced uniform; his lank unpowdered hair was tied in a stiff hessian tail of an extraordinary length; the old-fashioned flaps of his waistcoat added to the general quaintness of his appearance." |
| 1782 | ditto | "There was something irresistibly pleasing in his address and conversation; and an enthusiasm, when speaking on professional subject, that showed he was no common being." |
| 1793 |
As Sir William Hamilton was about to introduce Nelson to his wife for the first time (as narrated by Emma to Nelson's biographer) |
"...a little man who could not boast of being very handsome, but who will become the greatest man that ever England produced. I promise you that he will one day astonish the world." |
| 1 Aug 1798 | By Sir Edward Berry, on the sighting of the French Fleet before the Battle of the Nile. | "The pleasure which the Admiral felt was perhaps more heightened than that of any other man, as he had now a CERTAINTY by which he could regulate his future operations." |
| Aug 1798 | The Queen of Naples after the Battle of the Nile | "Oh brave Nelson; Oh God bless and protect our brave deliverer. Oh, Nelson, Nelson, what do we not owe you! Oh, victor, saviour of Italy." |
| 1798 | Lady Spencer, wife of the First Lord of the Admiralty | "A most uncouth creature, his general appearance that of an idiot." |
| 1798 | ditto | "When he spoke his wonderful mind broke forth." |
| 20 Dec 1800 | A witness of Nelson's arrival at Salisbury | "I felt all my conception of what constituted a grammar-school hero utterly discomforted." |
| Date | Circumstances | Nelson on Emma |
| 14 Sep 1793 | To his wife, following his first meeting with Emma Hamilton. | Lady Hamilton has been wonderfully kind and good to Josiah. She is a young woman of amiable manners, and who does honour to the station to which she is raised. |
| 25 Sep 1798 | To his wife, following the Battle of the Nile. | I hope some day to have the pleasure of introducing you to Lady Hamilton, she is one of the very best women in this worls; she is an honour to her sex |
| Date | Circumstances | Emma on Nelson |
| >1798 | >When Nelson was created Baron after his victory at the Battle of the Nile (rather than a higher level of peerage) | >"Hang them, I say! If I was King of England, I would make you the most noble puissant Duke Nelson, Marquis Nile, Earl Alexander, Viscount Pyramid, Baron Crocadile(sic)." |
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