Bernhard Schlink Quotes

Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land it. But if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly.

Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest.

My ears are huge. If there's ever a problem with a plane I'm on, they could just put me on the wing and I'll land the sucker.

She said it had been hijacked shortly after takeoff. By this time, the plane had been in the air - again, I'm presuming that it took off on time - for over an hour.

I like the fact that when you're put into a really extreme situation, you put everything else aside. You put your ego aside and get on with it, and I quite like that.

If a natural disaster like a flock of birds or a bolt of lightning causes a plane's engines to fail, you know what should be expected? That the pilot will keep his or her wits about them and do their best to save each and every soul on board. That's precisely what Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger and the rest of his crew did.

It's amazing how resourceful you can become when you're in the middle of the ocean and there's only one way to get to the other side.

When all else fails, start running!

When disaster waves, I try not to wave back.

What matters isn't how well you play when you're playing well. What matters is how well you play when you're playing badly.

You only really discover the strength of your spine when your back is against the wall.

Hate will keep you alive where love fails

In desperate position, you must fight.

When you're a pilot, and you know all the ways to survive an airplane crash and how low the chances are, you feel safer.

Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.

Now listen, buddy, there are a few corny ideas you got to get out of your head if you're going to fly an airplane. Most things are just the reverse from what people think. The higher you are the safer you are. The Earth down there, that, that-s your enemy because once you hit that, boy, you splatter.

I'm here because they've killed almost all of us, but not all of us. And that's their mistake, son. That's the flaw in their plan. Because if you don't kill all of us at once, whoever's left are not going to be the weak ones. The strong ones- and only the strong ones- will survive. The bent but unbroken, if you know what I mean. People like me. And people like you.

It's not about how you are when things go well, what defines you is how you are when you fail from an obstacle.

We prove God by showing active faith, which puts to flight all adverse appearances

When danger is far off we may think of our weakness; when it is near we must not forget our strength.

You know the oxygen masks on airplanes? I don't think there's really any oxygen. I think they're just to muffle the screams.

Even if we fail, we are still gaining life experience. The worst thing that could happen is that we come out smarter and more prepared for our next challenge.

Those who have not undergone minor disasters are usually being held in reserve for something major

One Child's courage to survive.