I have often been asked what I think about at the moment of take-off. Of course, no pilot sits and feels his pulse as he flies. He has to be part of the machine. If he thinks of anything but the task in hand, then trouble is probably just around the corner.
— Amelia Earhart
Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn't any good reason to refer to it.
Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.
The most effective way to do it, is to do it.
The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.
Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.
I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty.
Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.
Aviation, this young modern giant, exemplifies the possible relationship of women and the creations of science. Although women have not taken full advantage of its use and benefits, air travel is as available to them as to men.
In soloing - as in other activities - it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.
There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war.
Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.
Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.
Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.
Among all the marvels of modern invention, that with which I am most concerned is, of course, air transportation. Flying is perhaps the most dramatic of recent scientific attainment. In the brief span of thirty-odd years, the world has seen an inventor's dream first materialized by the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk become an everyday actuality.
The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.
There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls.
Adventure is worthwhile in itself.
Aviation offered such fun as crossing the continent in planes large and small, trying the whirling rotors of an autogiro, making record flights. With these activities came opportunity to know women everywhere who shared my conviction that there is so much women can do in the modern world and should be permitted to do irrespective of their sex.
Mostly, my flying has been solo, but the preparation for it wasn't. Without my husband's help and encouragement, I could not have attempted what I have. Ours has been a contented and reasonable partnership, he with his solo jobs and I with mine. But always with work and play together, conducted under a satisfactory system of dual control.
Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.
