Walter Lord Quotes & Sayings

caused no end of trouble. It took the air cover from all four carriers to handle them properly. — Walter Lord

To the British, Dunkirk symbolizes a generosity of spirit, a willingness to sacrifice for the common good. To Americans, it has come to mean Mrs. Miniver, little ships, The Snow Goose, escape by sea. To the French, it suggests bitter defeat; to the Germans, opportunity forever lost. — Walter Lord

One man who could understand it very well was the architect of these stop-gap measures: General the Viscount Gort, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force. A big burly man of 53, Lord Gort was no strategist - he was happy to follow the French lead on such matters - but he had certain soldierly virtues that came in handy at a time like this. He was a great fighter - had won the Victoria Cross storming the Hindenburg Line in 1918 - and he was completely unflappable. — Walter Lord

An almost eerie quiet hung over Washington; it had been that way ever since the British left. Pennsylvania Avenue stood broad and empty, with Joe Gales's type still scattered over the 7th Street intersection. General Ross's horse still lay, legs stiff in death, outside the ruins of Robert Sewall's house. The rubble of the Capitol still smoldered quietly in the sun. — Walter Lord

It would be nice to say the rich people, the fancy people, all behaved like bastards and the poor slobs all came through like heroes. But as a matter of fact, sometimes the poor slobs behave like slobs and the great, noble, privileged characters come off very well, indeed. — Walter Lord

There were exceptions, a couple of families that just plain didn't want to even think about it, although forty years had passed but mostly the people were very interested in talking about it. — Walter Lord

This was the era when gentlemen formally offered their services to "unprotected ladies" at the start of an Atlantic voyage. — Walter Lord

Seen and unseen, the great and the unknown tumbled together in a writhing heap as the bow plunged deeper and the stern rose higher. — Walter Lord

But legends are part of great events, and if they help keep alive the memory of gallant self-sacrifice, they serve their purpose. — Walter Lord

In ticking off the things that weren't done, it was easy to forget the big thing that was done. Against overwhelming odds, with the most meager resources, and often at fearful self-sacrifice, a few determined men reversed the course of the war in the Pacific. Japan would never again take the offensive. Yet the margin was thin - so narrow that almost any man there could say with pride that he personally helped turn the tide at Midway. It was indeed, as General Marshall said in Washington, "the closest squeak and the greatest victory. — Walter Lord

and PWD was soon on the air again. Beyond the perimeter, Snowy Rhoades took charge of mopping up the scattered Japanese. Learning that a small party was hiding up a river near the southeast coast, he loaded a barge with eighteen U.S. infantry and ten armed natives and went after them. They — Walter Lord

I look for something that is highly unusual, involving ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations. — Walter Lord

What troubled people especially was not just the tragedy--or even the needlessness--but the element of fate in it all. If the Titanic had heeded any of the six ice messages on Sunday . . . if ice conditions had been normal . . . if the night had been rough or moonlit . . . if she had seen the berg 15 second sooner--or 15 seconds later . . . if she had hit the ice any other way . . . if her watertight bulkheads had been one deck higher . . . if she had carried enough boats . . . if the Californian had only come. Had any one of these "ifs" turned out right, every life might have been save. But they all went against her--a classic Greek tragedy. — Walter Lord

Brilliantly lit from stem to stern, she looked like a sagging birthday cake. — Walter Lord

The Titanic woke them up. Never again would they be quite so sure of themselves. In technology especially, the disaster was a terrible blow. Here was the "unsinkable ship" -- perhaps man's greatest engineering achievement -- going down the first time it sailed.

But it went beyond that. If this supreme achievement was so terribly fragile, what about everything else? If wealth mean so little on this cold April night, did it mean so much the rest of the year? — Walter Lord

Overriding everything else, the Titanic also marked the end of a general feeling of confidence. — Walter Lord

Someone once told me the one thread that runs through them all is a premium on personal courage - not intellectual courage, but just plain physical courage. — Walter Lord

The night was a magnificent confirmation of "women and children first," yet somehow the loss rate was higher for Third Class children than First Class men. — Walter Lord

It is a rash man indeed who would set himself up as final arbiter on all that happened the incredible night the Titanic went down. — Walter Lord

It's a funny thing, but today the Titanic is probably much more - that is people are much more aware of it than they were in 1954, when I was doing my research. — Walter Lord

The clock in the wireless shack said 12:45 A.M. when the Titanic sent the first SOS call in history. — Walter Lord

Try and get off with Major Butt — Walter Lord

Suddenly he was amazed to see a lifeboat floating near the starboard side. He phoned the bridge - did they know there was a boat afloat? An incredulous voice asked who he was. Rowe explained, and the bridge then realized he had been overlooked. They told him to come to the bridge right away and bring some rockets with him. — Walter Lord

Events alone rarely provide much guide to the future. — Walter Lord

I never earned a dollar that was not somehow through writing. — Walter Lord

Possession of the ice didn't remain a Third Class monopoly for long. — Walter Lord

Mrs. George Widener was met not by automobile but by a special train - consisting of a private Pullman, another car for ballast, and a locomotive. — Walter Lord

You have to study the people and the ones that measure up are not always the ones you expect. — Walter Lord

Before the Titanic, all was quiet. Afterward all was tumult. That is why, to anybody who lived at the time, the Titanic more than any other single event marks the end of the old days, and the beginning of a new, uneasy era. — Walter Lord

Even against the greatest of odds, there is something in the human spirit - a magic blend of skill, faith, and valor - that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory. — Walter Lord

Robertson called his ship the Titan; the White Star Line called its ship the Titanic. This is the story of her last night. — Walter Lord