55 John Glenn Quotes

John Glenn was an American aviator who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, circling it three times.

After his retirement from NASA, he served as a Democratic United States Senator from 1974 to 1999 from Ohio. However, in 1998, he again flew into space when he was 77 years old.

He was the oldest person to fly in space. Here, we are providing some of the quotes from John Glenn that will inspire you throughout your life and will help you to be a better person.

Here are some famous John Glenn quotes from the legend who believed in personal health and enhancing the body's immune system. Some famous John Glenn quotes with an infinite amount of confidence.

“As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind – every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.”

― The Alpha Series

“To sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate.”

― In one of his interviews

“The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and advance the kind of science, math, and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.”

― We Seven: By The Astronauts

“I don’t know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets.”

― A Memoir

“There are times when you devote yourself to a higher cause than personal safety.”

― Progress Compromised:

“When others kid me about being bald, I simply tell them that, the way I figure it, the good Lord only gave men so many hormones, and if others want to waste theirs on growing hair, that’s up to them.”

― Civil Engineers!

“I suppose the one quality in an astronaut more powerful than any other is curiosity. They have to get to someplace nobody’s ever been.”

― The Alpha Series

“A lot of people ask…why a man is willing to risk… Well, we’ve got to do it. We’re going into an age of exploration that will be bigger than anything the world has ever seen… If a man faces up to the unknown and takes the dare of the future, he can have some control over his destiny.”

― Interview after orbiting the earth

John Glenn believed that the space station was the most unique laboratory that mankind had ever built. To inspire young minds, here are John Glenn's quotes about space.

"I don't know what you can say about a day when you see four beautiful sunsets…. This is a little unusual, I think."

— During that first orbit.

“To me, there is no greater calling. If I can inspire young people to dedicate themselves to the good of mankind, I've accomplished something.”

— Interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer, 2002.

“To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible.”

— On his second space flight on the Space Shuttle Discovery, 1998.

“We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves.”

— Ohio State University’s commencement, 2009.

“America had an emphasis on the individual, and so education became available for everyone.”

― Interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“We (the DOE) are poisoning our people in the name of national security.”

― 'Globalisation: North-South Perspectives'.

“America is in a newly competitive position around the world, and unless we keep our lead in education for all of our people and do the research along with that, other nations will start outdoing us and they will be leaders in the world.”

― 'Progress Compromised'

“We’re going to go to the moon. We’re going to go on to Mars. We’re going to set up a base on the moon. OK, but no money to pay for it, nothing in the budget for it. And so the decision made at that time was to cancel the whole shuttle program to save money, which I think was very, very short-sighted.”

― 'Back in Orbit: John Glenn’s Return'

“We had a lot of confidence that there was going to be a successful mission. We weren’t off on some suicide effort, certainly [with Friendship 7].”

― 'Die Kreuzritter'.

“I think in America we have to get back to being the best educated general citizenry in the world and make sure we do not lose our lead in research if we’re to have a leadership position in the world.”

― 'The Soviet Legacy In Central Asia'.

“Liftoff is very, very gentle, contrary to what most people think. Because you remember, the weight of the booster – the amount of thrust on the engine is just barely enough to get the booster underway. And so it’s a very gentle liftoff, contrary to what most people think when they see all the fire and smoke of launch.”

― 'Liftoff: A Photobiography Of John Glenn'.

“Americans just want us to… not be concerned if they can be constitutionally justified… Why, if we had to do that, we could not pass most of the laws we enact around here.”

― 'China’s Challenge To Us Supremacy'.

“I think sometime we will go to Mars and I think we’ll explore it with humans sometime, but I think it’s really wise to do all the robotic exploration ahead of time and learn as much as possible. Once we have learned as much as possible with the robots, then that’s the time to send people, and let them then continue the research that the robots have started.”

― 'Civil Engineers!'

“As far as actually setting up colonies of people who would live their whole lives in space, I think we’re a long ways from doing that yet, and I think we have many, many decades before we could be able to even consider something like that.”

― 'The Alpha Series'.

"Zero G and I feel fine."

— During The First orbit, 1962.

Read some inspiring quotes by John Glenn, who believed we are happier when we are involved in something bigger. Glenn is a legend who served his country as a pilot in World War II and the Korean War. 

“I am a stranger. I come in peace. Take me to your leader and there will be a massive reward for you in eternity.”

― 'Civil Engineers!'

“An end of something means the beginning of something else, and I don’t think that something else is going to be the death of the manned space program”.

― 'John Glenn, A Memoir'.

“If a man faces up to the [unknown] and takes the dare of the future, he can have some control over his destiny”.

― 'The Alpha Series'.

“When you’re a combat pilot, you believe you’re the best in the air. If you do, you’re combat-ready. If you don’t, you’d better find another line of work”.

― 'Acting Out: Performance Theory'.

"Don’t give in to complacency and cynicism. Don’t ignore what is bad, but concentrate on building what is good."

― 'China’s Challenge To US Supermacy'.

“Don’t take America and the values reflected in our form of government for granted. And never forget that in our democracy, the government is not ‘them’ – it is ‘us.’"

― 'We Seven: By the Astronauts.'

"To sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate."

― 'The Alpha Series'.

"If this cynicism and apathy are allowed to continue to fester, it will not only be dangerous, but in our democracy it will be suicidal…"

― 'Letters to John Glenn: P.S. I'.

“We were there to do what had to be done. Using napalm didn’t fit with peacetime sensitivities, but peace and a return to the sensitivities that it permitted were what we were fighting to achieve.”

― 'John Glenn: A Memoir'.

"Each had contributed in small or large measure to the painstaking march of our democracy, I could not have asked for anything more rewarding."

― 'The Soviet Legacy in Central Asia'.

“The moment of twilight is simply beautiful.”

― 'Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight'.

In his journals, John Glenn has shared about things that influenced him, like 'what kept crossing my mind'. They are fascinating and influence the readers.

“There is still no cure for the common birthday.”

― At the National Television

“This is a day we have managed to avoid for a quarter of a century.”

― 'John Glenn, A Memoir'.

“You should run your life, not by the calendar but by how you feel, and what you’re interests are, and your ambitions.”

― At the National Television

“The political graveyards are full of people who don’t respond.”

― 'The Soviet Legacy in Central Asia'.

“I liked flying, when I got into it, I loved it. And I found I was very good at it. I’m not modest about the fact that I was a good pilot.”

― 'We Seven: By the Astronauts'.

“Old folks have dreams and ambitions too, like everybody else. Don’t sit on a couch someplace.”

― 'We Seven: By the Astronauts'.

“If you go to the Air and Space Museum in Washington, you can see the burn patterns on Friendship 7.”

― 'We Seven: By the Astronauts'.

“The best space movie, in my view, is ‘Apollo 13’. That’s just the way it happened.”

― 'The Alpha Series'.

“In orbit, you’re keyed up and aware of everything going on, every little noise, anything that may have special meaning because of where you are.”

― 'Civil Engineers!'

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

― 'John Glenn, A Memoir'.