Quotes from Michael Collins

I knew I was alone in a way that no earthling has ever been before.

There is but one Earth, tiny and fragile, and one must get 100,000 miles away to appreciate fully one's good fortune in living on it.

I guess the basic reason I run is that I think a body, like a brain, should be used, stretched, forced to its limits...I feel sorry for those who will never know the desperate pound of 180 beats per minute, or the golden afterglow of recovery from it. The body, like a flying machine, can be operated with greater enjoyment, poise, and confidence if one has explored its limits.

I am also planning to leave a lot of things undone. Part of life's mystery depends on future possibilities, and mystery is an elusive quality which evaporates when sampled frequently, to be followed by boredom. For example, catching various types of fish is on my list of good things to do, but I would be reluctant to rush into it, even if I had the time. I want no part of destroying fishing as a mysterious sport.

The great truth was that we were not the center of things, or others' lives, but only so in our own mind's eye. We were all obscure nobodies at our essence.

I felt cold just thinking about that, just how things come to an end, how death is subsumed in the pull of daily life, how a man or woman dies, and life goes on. There were no irrevocable losses.

Norman said, "Sometimes there are no winners and it's all a wash," mindful that anything said was enough, and at times, nothing was demanded save the presence of another.

Cuando le preguntaron qué era la cosa más terrorífica con la que se había encontrando, repuso: Un folio en blanco.

I don't mean to deny a feeling of solitude. It is there, reinforced by the fact that radio contact with the Earth abruptly cuts off at the instant I disappear behind the moon, I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side.

Early this morning, I signed my death warrant.

I knew I was alone in a way that no earthling has ever been before.

Early this morning, I signed my death warrant.