Gwynne Quotes & Sayings

When you think of somebody all the time it means one of two things - either you hate their guts or you like them a lot. — Phillip Gwynne

Storm. I shall call her Storm. — John Gwynne

I left Aerospace because I wanted to go build, and put spacecraft together. — Gwynne Shotwell

And now the solider toiled upward through an extremely steep ascent over rock outcroppings and ravines. At the top, they saw something few white men had ever seen: the preternaturally flat expanse of the high plains, covered only with short buffalo grass. 'As far as the eye could reach,' wrote Carter, 'not an object of any kind or living thing was in sight. It stretched out before us- one uninterrupted plain, only to be compared with the ocean in its vastness.' The scene was terrifying even for men with experience of the plains. 'This is a terrible country,' railroad worker Arthur Ferguson had written a few years earlier, 'the stillness, wildness, and desolation of which is awful... Not a tree to be seen... and it seemed as if the solitude had been eternal. — S.C. Gwynne

I love making puns. — Fred Gwynne

The scientists are really scared. Their [global warming] observations over the past two or three years suggest that everything is happening a lot faster than their climate models predicted. — Gwynne Dyer

Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis," Douglas commented. Times change, and we change with them. — S.C. Gwynne

there's no cure for love, when it hits you make up your mind, to live with it! — Gwynne Forster

What makes the Arabs suitable candidates for democracy is their heritage as human beings, not their specific cultural or historical antecedents. — Gwynne Dyer

What is across there? Lykos said.
Death, whatever that is. Said Calidus. — John Gwynne

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a portrait painter. As I got to be older, I realized that as a portrait painter I wouldn't be able to support a goldfish. — Fred Gwynne

It doesn't matter what we think we are there [in Afghanistan] for; it matters what they think. They think we are invaders. — Gwynne Dyer

Never did anyone ever stay longer than ten years because the resistance grows fiercer as your presence grows longer [in Afghanistan]. I don't think we are going to be any exception. What made us exempt from history? — Gwynne Dyer

Forty years ago my mother died," he said. "She captured by Comanches, nine years old. Love Indian and wild life so well, no want to go back to white folks. All same people anyway, God say. I love my mother. — S.C. Gwynne

I always encourage employees to feel free to raise any issues that prevent them from getting good work done. — Gwynne Shotwell

Some of them screamed for locks of his hair, to which the blushing general replied, "Really, ladies, this is the first time I was ever surrounded by the enemy! — S.C. Gwynne

he found the general seated on a log, quite motionless, with his eyes closed. His cap, as usual, was pulled down to his nose. Hampton gave Jackson his report and volunteered to lead an advance over his new bridge. To Hampton's complete amazement, the general did not speak, nor did he even move. He "sat in silence for some time, then rose and walked off in silence." Jackson later was found prostrate and asleep underneath a tree, in spite of the daylong artillery battle that was screaming overhead. He seemed almost perfectly passive. When Longstreet sent an aide to him asking for his help, Jackson replied that he could do nothing. He later fell into such a deep sleep that his aides had trouble waking him. He fell asleep at dinner with a biscuit between his teeth. When he was awakened, he suddenly seemed to come to his senses, saying, "Now, gentlemen, let us at once to bed, and rise with the dawn, and see if tomorrow we cannot do something. — S.C. Gwynne

If you're not looking toward the future or trying to improve the current technology, you'll be left behind. — Gwynne Shotwell

never take counsel of your fears. — S.C. Gwynne

The military profession, especially is the long-established great powers, is deeply pessimistic about the likelihood that people and countries will behave well under stress. Professional officers are trained to think in terms of emergent threats, and this [climate change] is as big a threat as you are going to find. Never mind what the pundits are telling the public about the perils of climate change; what are the military strategists telling their governments. This will tell us a great deal about the probable shape of the future, although it may not tell any anything that we want to hear. — Gwynne Dyer

I shall stay and tell my tale, hope that it may serve some purpose, that eyes shall see it and learn, that the future will not repeat the mistakes of the past. That is my prayer, but what use is prayer to a god that has abandoned all things . . . — John Gwynne

The greatest threat of all to their identity, and to the very idea of a nomadic hunter in North America, appeared on the plains in the late 1860s. These were the buffalo men. Between 1868 and 1881 they would kill thirty-one million buffalo, stripping the plains almost entirely of the huge, lumbering creatures and destroying any last small hope that any horse tribe could ever be restored to its traditional life. There was no such thing as a horse Indian without a buffalo herd. Such an Indian had no identity at all. — S.C. Gwynne

Much of this behavior grew out of his faith, his desire to be uncompromisingly truthful at all times, and his very particular sense of Christian courtesy. He explained his refusal to voice disapproval of others by saying, "It is quite contrary to my nature to keep silence where I cannot but disapprove. Indeed I may as well confess that it would often give me real satisfaction to express just what I feel, but this would be to disobey the divine precept [judge not lest ye be judged], and I dare not do — S.C. Gwynne

The first and most important impact of climate change on human civilisation will be an acute and permanent crisis of food supply. Eating regularly is a non-negotiable activity and countries that cannot feed their people are unlikely to be reasonable about it. — Gwynne Dyer

As the most religious country of the 18 surveyed, the U.S. also comes in with the highest rates for teen pregnancy and for gonorrhea and syphilis. — Gwynne Dyer

vanguard. Jackson's division was the old valley army: — S.C. Gwynne

To make matters worse, Jackson placed great value on regurgitating every last detail of the assigned texts. When, in response to Jackson's question 'What are the three simple machines?' a cadet answered, 'The inclined plane, the lever, and the wheel,' Jackson replied, 'No, sir. The lever, the wheel, and the inclined plane. — S.C. Gwynne

The key is to join an industry that you have a passion for. If you love cars, then automotive is where you should end up. — Gwynne Shotwell

But we are almost certainly going to miss our [global warming] deadline. We cannot get the 10 lost years back, and by the time a new global agreement to replace the Kyoto accord is negotiated and put into effect, there will probably not be enough time left to stop the warming short of the point where we must not go. — Gwynne Dyer

If you choose not to fight against Asroth, then you have already chosen him. Doing nothing does not absolve you of choice. Doing nothing puts you firmly on Asroth's side and makes you a coward, as well, for not having the stones to admit it. — John Gwynne

After I finished my master's degree, I moved to a company called Aerospace Corporation, a big think tank for the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office. — Gwynne Shotwell

It will be a dark day, a bloody day, a proud day, for this is the day of our wrath. — John Gwynne

There was a lot of risk taken in the Mercury and Apollo eras, and we don't take those risks anymore. We've designed the systems to eliminate risk, which makes it take forever and cost too much money. — Gwynne Shotwell

I never felt any issues whatsoever about being a woman in Tech. — Gwynne Shotwell

How is it that you and Calidus are here? Made flesh?' Meical looked into his cup, swirled it around. 'It is part of the prophecy; one Ben-Elim, one Kadoshim. Part of Elyon's fairness, I suppose. — John Gwynne

Memory is a double-edged sword, Uthas. It can keep you strong through dark times, but it can also cripple you, keep you locked in a moment that no longer exists. — John Gwynne

This song is dedicated to Frank Zappa, and River Phoenix, Fred Gwynne who played Herman Munster, Dixie Lee Ray, Thomas P, Tip O'Neil, and you, dumb ass, who just threw water on me. — Kurt Cobain

She took a sip of the mead, the taste of honey combining with a pleasant heat in her belly. 'It's — John Gwynne

Family. Friendship. Loyalty. These things have been my guiding stars, my light in these dark times. — John Gwynne

I decided to take a stab at acting. I entered the American Academy of Dramatic Art, where one teacher told me I'd never make it - I was too tall. — Fred Gwynne

I'd love to go to space. I would love to peek out a giant window and look back at the blue marble. There's no question; I'd love to do that. — Gwynne Shotwell

To my thinking, though, it's what happens before death that's important. All of us die. How many really live? — John Gwynne

If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no Islamic State now. — Gwynne Dyer

Consolidating to the point of monopoly has never served the consumer - ever. — Gwynne Shotwell

While the high-level climate talks pursue their stately progress towards some ill-defined destination, down in the trenches there is an undercurrent of suppressed panic in the conversations. The tipping points seem to be racing towards us a lot faster than people thought. — Gwynne Dyer

I do want to make something clear: SpaceX does have a lot of government business, but we execute in a commercial fashion. — Gwynne Shotwell

The most basic change necessary to our collective survival is underway: the last redefinition of humanity - gradually extending from family to tribe to nation to the human race. — Gwynne Dyer

The great and complicated political reasons for secession, thundered about in Congress and in the state legislatures, were not their reasons, which were more like those expressed by a captive Confederate soldier, who was not a slaveholder, to his puzzled Union captors. "I'm fighting because you're down here," he said.30 — S.C. Gwynne

An important skill for all SpaceXers is the ability to accept critical feedback. This is key to anyone's growth and becoming better at what they do. — Gwynne Shotwell

The first generations of Comanches in captivity never really understood the concept of wealth, of private property. The central truth of their lives was the past, the dimming memory of the wild, ecstatic freedom of the plains, of the days when Comanche warriors in black buffalo headdresses rode unchallenged from Kansas to northern Mexico, of a world without property or boundaries. What Quanah had that the rest of his tribe in the later years did not was that most American of human traits: boundless optimism. — S.C. Gwynne

Now, for the moment, we are safe. The only kind of international violence that worries most people in the developed countries is terrorism: from imminent heart attack to a bad case of hangnail in fifteen years flat. We are very lucky people
but we need to use the time we have been granted wisely, because total war is only sleeping. All the major states are still organized for war, and all that is needed for the world to slide back into a nuclear confrontation is a twist of the kaleidoscope that shifts international relations into a new pattern of rival alliances. — Gwynne Dyer

I remember in third grade, I asked my mom, 'How does an engine work?' So my mom bought me a book. — Gwynne Shotwell

For most of history, war has been a more or less functional institution, providing benefits for those societies that were good at it, although the cost in money, in lives, and in suffering was always significant. Only in the past century have large numbers of people begun to question the basic assumption of civilized societies that war is inevitable and often useful. — Gwynne Dyer

I don't like to camp. Early on, Mars is going to be camping. I think there are people far better suited to do that than me. But when the first Holiday Inn Express shows up, maybe I'll go. — Gwynne Shotwell

Our task over the next few generations is to transform the world of independent states in which we live into some sort of genuine international community. If we succeed in creating that community, however quarrelsome, discontented, and full of injustice it probably will be, then we shall effectively have abolished the ancient institution of warfare. Good riddance. — Gwynne Dyer

The mountains were gone, replaced by a lush green vale. A river flowed out of the mountains, twisting in great curves through the vale until it — John Gwynne

Two for vengeance. One for love. — John Gwynne

Stonewall Jackson was master of all he surveyed. Two Union forces were withdrawing from his front. There was a certain beautiful symmetry to it. The campaign, which started with a single enemy army pursuing Jackson southward through the valley, would end with two beaten Union armies withdrawing from him in a northerly direction. A week later, Jackson advised his mapmaker, Hotchkiss, to 'never take counsel of your fears.' A person who followed such advice would be doomed to a short life. — S.C. Gwynne

SpaceX is a flat organization. Anyone gets to talk to anyone, and the best idea wins - even if it comes from an intern. — Gwynne Shotwell

Take the year a country first reaches 50% literacy and add one or two generations to allow the idea to sink in and, democracy, more or less automatically, appears. — Gwynne Dyer

For whatever reason, college was just not a huge focus for me. I wasn't planning ahead. I just didn't think about it too much. — Gwynne Shotwell

The real requirement, if we are to avoid runaway global warming, is probably 80% by 2030, and almost no burning whatever of fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) by 2050. — Gwynne Dyer

War is part of our history, but it is not in at all the same sense part of our prehistory. It is one of the innovations that occurred between nine and eleven thousand years ago when the first civilized societies were coming into being. What has been invented can be changed; war is not in our genes. — Gwynne Dyer

I saw what government programs were and how they were executed. In some cases, they were executed beautifully, but in others, there was tremendous waste. — Gwynne Shotwell

You can't be on the cusp of innovation and at the forefront of technology if you're wearing blinders. If you don't have an exploration program where you're exploring your world here on Earth, underwater, and in space, then you're wearing blinders and handicapping yourself. — Gwynne Shotwell

I will do nothing to superinduce sleep by putting myself at ease, or making myself more comfortable; if, however, in spite of my resistance I yield to my infirmity, then I deserve to be laughed at, and accept as punishment the mortification I feel."19 — S.C. Gwynne

Worst of all was the blizzard. People from the east or west coasts of America may think they have seen a blizzard. Likely they have not. It is almost exclusively a phenomenon of the plains, and got its name on the plains. It entailed wind-driven snow so dense and temperatures so cold that anyone lost in them on the shelterless plains was as good as dead. — S.C. Gwynne

So much emotion wrapped up in weakness, leading you to attempt the impossible, lying to yourself, time and time again. Hope, I think you call it. — John Gwynne

What would air travel look like if airplanes were thrown out after each flight? No one would be flying in airplanes. — Gwynne Shotwell

From my perspective, it's really risk management to ensure that humans have the ability to go somewhere else in case there were to be some huge disaster on Earth. — Gwynne Shotwell

The time for war has not yet come, but it will come, and that soon. And when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard. — S.C. Gwynne