John Glenn

An end of something means the beginning of something else, and I don't think that something else is going to be the death of the manned space program.

One of the first things I learned in the Marine Corps is that any military mission has to be defined as precisely as you can possibly define it, and then you size the force and equipment force to accomplish that mission without fail.

I'm not interested in my legacy. I made up a word: 'live-acy.' I'm more interested in living.

Old folks have dreams and ambitions too, like everybody else. Don't sit on a couch someplace.

By its very definition, civic responsibility means taking a healthy role in the life of one's community. That means that classroom lessons should be complemented by work outside the classroom. Service-learning does just that, tying community service to academic learning.

As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.

I was hooked on aviation, made model airplanes, and never thought I would be able to fly myself. It cost too much. But then World War II came along and changed all that.

I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets.

To get your name well enough known that you can run for a public office, some people do it by being great lawyers or philanthropists or business people or work their way up the political ladder. I happened to become known from a different route.

You should run your life not by the calendar but how you feel, and what you're interests are and ambitions.

I liked flying, when I got into it, loved it. And I found I was very good at it. I'm not modest about the fact that I was a good pilot.

I suppose the one quality in an astronaut more powerful than any other is curiosity. They have to get some place nobody's ever been.

I was sold on flying as soon as I had a taste for it.

The space station is the most unique laboratory we've ever built. The reason we have it is to do research on materials, people, medical matters, pharmaceuticals - the possibilities are nearly endless.

The conquest of space is not merely a technological project of interest to a handful of select scientists and specialists, valuable though that research and information may be.

We're not up there in space just to joyride around. We're up there to do things that are of value to everybody right here on Earth.

To sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate.

There are times when you devote yourself to a higher cause than personal safety.

Too many people, when they get old, think that they have to live by the calendar.