I wouldn't oppose a women's astronaut training program; I just see no requirement for it.

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 spent 23 years in the military. I think I'm in a good position to make those judgments on what is necessary in the military and what is not necessary, without buying a lot of things that would not really add to our security.

When the new becomes commonplace, people become accustomed to it. That's a tribute to our sense of adventure.

Having in my life been bitten by the jaws of both victory and defeat, I must rush to add that success is to failure as butter pecan ice cream is to death.

I'm not frightened of death.

There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.

I think I'm very stoic. Death and dying are things that I'm used to.