Last Flight (Primary source)
Earhart’s posthumous 1937 journal, compiled from dispatches during her final around-the-world attempt, becomes an inadvertent elegy for American optimism. Her matter-of-fact accounts of technical challenges and geographical wonders now read as her last transmission before vanishing into mystery and legend.
“Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.”
— Amelia Earhart Primary source“It is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.”
— Amelia Earhart Primary source“Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization.”
— Amelia Earhart Primary source“The stars seemed near enough to touch and never before have I seen so many. I always believed the lure of flying is the lure of beauty, but I was sure of it that night.”
— Amelia Earhart Primary sourceMore quotes by Amelia Earhart →
“It was a bitter moment. Defeat is one thing; disgrace is another.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“One today is worth two tomorrows.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Dying is only bad when it takes a long time and hurts so much that it humiliates you.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary sourceWorry Flying Risk Decisions Hamlet