The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots. If you're not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you can only operate well by pretending to be one.
Herman WoukRead
Let us fill a cup and drink to that most noble, ridiculous, laughable, sublime figure in our lives... The Young Man Who Was. Let us drink to his dreams, for they were rainbow-colored; to his appetites, for they were strong; to his blunders, for they were huge; to his pains for they were sharp; to his time for it was brief; and to his end, for it was to become one of us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the complexities and the bittersweet nature of youth, celebrating both its dreams and failures.
Herman Wouk's quote poetically captures the essence of youth, portraying it as a transient yet profoundly impactful period in life. The 'Young Man Who Was' symbolizes the universal journey through aspirations, mistakes, and experiences that shape an individual. By raising a cup in homage, Wouk emphasizes the beauty and absurdity of youth's dreams and the inevitable acceptance of one's human condition as they transition into adulthood.
Themes
YouthDreamsLifeBlundersExperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a graduation toast, this quote can be used to celebrate the journey of youth.
More from Herman Wouk
All quotes →The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots. If you are not an idiot, but find yourself in the Navy, you can only operate well by pretending to be one. All the shortcuts and economies and common-sense changes that your native intelligence suggests to you are mistakes. Learn to quash them. Constantly ask yourself, "How would I do this if I were a fool?" Throttle down your mind to a crawl. Then you will never go wrong.
Herman WoukRead
I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans.
Herman WoukRead
The door available to everyone that can lead to happiness & success is the modest door of the public library. I found it to be so in my own life and work.
Herman WoukRead
Every hour spent on the Caine was a great hour in all our lives-if you don't think so now you will later on, more and more.
Herman WoukRead
War is a business in which a lot of people watch a few people get killed and are damn glad it wasn't them.
Herman WoukRead
Similar quotes
I am older than everyone I ever knew. All my dogs are dead. Half a dozen cats, parakeets... all gone.
Arthur MillerRead
For the complete life, the perfect pattern includes old age as well as youth and maturity.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It meets a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts that is something on which to pride yourself but poverty itself is romanticized by fools.
J. K. RowlingRead
I don't know what is the meaning of death, but I am not afraid to die - and I go on, non-stop, going forward with life. Even though I, Bruce Lee, may die some day without fulfilling all of my ambitions, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do and what I've done, I've done with sincerity and to the best of my ability. You can't expect much more from life.
Bruce LeeRead
Alas, how easily things go wrong! A sigh too much, a kiss too long And there follows a mist and a weeping rain And life is never the same again
George MacdonaldRead
It is often said that New York is a city for only the very rich and the very poor. It is less often said that New York is also, at least for those of us who came there from somewhere else, a city for only the very young.
Joan DidionRead