Top 10 Neil Armstrong Quotes

neil armstrong on the moonNeil Armstrong, the first man to step onto the moon, died today at the age of 71. A true inspiration to millions around the world, here’s my take on his top 10 quotes.

All quotes by Neil Armstrong.

“I never thought that I, Neil Alden Armstrong, was every going to set foot on the moon. Sure I definitely wanted to, but I never thought than I would be here in the Lunar Module, Eagle, ready to do so.”

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

“A picture does a great job, but it’s not nearly like being there.”

“I think if there was anything I learned from our skipper was that it’s not how you look; it’s how you perform.”

“Start at the end and work back.”

“At the time I think the reality was, you’ve got your job to do and you just go ahead and do it, and keep doing it and hope for the best.”

“We tried to be as focused as we could, work on the things we could do something about, and not worry about the things that were beyond our ability to change.”

“You’ve got to expect some of these things are going to go wrong, and we always need to prepare ourselves for handling the unexpected. And you just hope those unexpected things aren’t something that you can’t cope with.”

“That’s one small step for a man.” I paused, and for a split second, I thought about how many people had worked their entire lives to make this possible. Moreover, how lucky I was to be here. “One giant leap for mankind.”

“We only had a few minutes to ourselves. I sauntered around for a while, and then looked up at that eternal sky. I saw that familiar, bright, beautiful planet, Earth. That’s when I comprehended how far away from home I really was. Then it hit me. I was truly on the moon. My life’s dream, fulfilled. I am on the moon.”

“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”

8 Comments

  1. My favorite is the last quote.

    “I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”

    I’d never heard of this one, but I really like it. I think I may steal it :).

  2. Hey Liz. Thanks for coming by and commenting. I really like that quote too. I like this one too: “We only had a few minutes to ourselves. I sauntered around for a while, and then looked up at that eternal sky. I saw that familiar, bright, beautiful planet, Earth. That’s when I comprehended how far away from home I really was. Then it hit me. I was truly on the moon. My life’s dream, fulfilled. I am on the moon.”

    It’s interesting because we always have goals to go after, but most of the time when we actually accomplish one we just start focusing on the next one. We never actually take a second to appreciate that we’ve accomplished the goal. Think about how silly it would’ve been for Neil Armstrong to be like: “We had a few minutes to walk around, so I did. And then I realized… Fuck, I wish I was on Mars.”

  3. Hahahahaha. You’re hilarious, but so right.

    I barely let myself realize that I reached a goal before I’m agonizing over all the ways I’m so far away from my next goal.

  4. I truly love the quote about the “finite number of heartbeats.” I have passed it on to some of my college students and maybe they will believe those words. Great one Neil.

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  6. I am writing you to get your permission to use 2 quotes I found on your web site in my book. I am a pastor’s wife and first time author. My husband and I have served in our first church for the past 24 years. I have been struggling with cancer for the past 11 years. God has placed in my heart a desire to write a book to encourage my fellow brothers and sisters who are struggling. The quotes I want to use are: I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.” You’ve got to expect things are going to go wrong. And we always need to prepare ourselves for handling the unexpected.” Both by Neil Armstrong. I am new at this so I am not sure how to correctly go about this. If this is not where I need to go please point me in the right direction. Thank you and God bless you.

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