Imperial Navy Quotes
Quotes made by members of the Imperial Navy or about the Imperial Navy:
Contents
Attributed
Imperial Manuals / Books / Publications
| Book | Quote | Source | Notes |
| Articles of War, Imperial Navy, Opening line |
You are expected at all times and in all situations to conduct yourself in a manner appropriate to, and mindful of, the great duties and traditions of the Emperor's Most Glorious and Honourable Navy. | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 5 |
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| Catechism of the Engin-near | Blessed be the coruscating plasma of the engine room, Spiritus Machina protect us from thy burning doom. Harness unto our will the power of light, Let conduit and coil work alright. | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 16 |
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| Exterminatus Extremis | Some may question your right to destroy ten billion people. Those who understand know that you have no right to let them live. | Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000 - Exterminatus | Also quoted by Inquisitor Horst |
| Ezekiel's Proverbs | A good Rogue Trader will win as many battles with his tongue as with his ship. | Rogue Trader Core Rulebook, pg. 293 |
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| Inscription at the top of the Gothic Monolith in the Chamber of Heroes | There is nothing better that a man can do than lay down his life in the service of the Emperor. | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 9 |
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| Historia Et Structura - Preface Res Navis Nobilite |
The Revered Houses of the Navis Nobilite are one of the bastions upon which the Imperium is founded and the institution claims it can trace its ancestry back to the birth of our Great Empire. The Great Families of the Navis Nobilite are uniquely composed of a particular form of human called a Navigator. Tech-adepts have speculated widely over the development and nature of the Navigators’ unusual talents and many cast hints at shadowy genetic transmutation and interbreeding during the founding of the Navis Nobilite. Whatever their origins, the Navigators today are a glorious and esteemed organisation, loyal to the Imperium and stalwart in their faith. The peculiar powers of the Navigators can only be preserved by intermarriage; breeding with mundane humans eliminates the special abilities. This factor has led to the development of the closely-related Navigator families and the Navis Nobilite as a whole. | Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, pg. 24 |
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| Runic Spaceflight - An Introduction Naval Flight Manual W110E | Should a machine not function upon striking the panel marked 'on' this is an omen of great ill. The reason ascribed may be as follows. Firstly, the function of Inadequate preparation on the part of the operator. Secondly, the action of the machine whose spirit may refuse the binding of the operator. Thirdly, the malintent of some third party upon the operator or machine. The operator must repeat the ritual from the beginning, repurifying himself, enscribing the runes, intoning the incantations, and striking the panel marked 'on'. An accompanying oath may be made. Should this procedure fail, the operator must recourse to consulting the instruction manual. | Warhammer 40,000 Chapter Approved - The Book of the Astronomican, pg.18 |
A
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Captain Ahabron | In ancient times it is said that men prayed to keep the monsters of the seas from rising from the black depths. Now I look out at the darkness between these stars and I feel the same prayers coming unbidden to my lips. -Captain Ahabron to his first officer on the Deep Range Cruiser Admiral Ishmael, missing in Action 814.M41 |
Deathwatch Core Rulebook, pg. 340 |
B
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Compel Bast, Captain | His great art was to be in the right place at the right time - others were not so cunning. - of Lord Admiral Ravensberg |
Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 17 |
| Bayde, Lieutenant of the 104th 'Fury' Thunderbolt Squadron | This is Fury Squadron commencing fly-over, don’t worry Colonel, we’ve got you covered | Strategy Cards for Planetary Empires expansion game, card Interdicition - Minor Stratagem", (saved archive page, dated February 2011, last accessed 6 October 2015) |
D
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Syomil Dakkar, exiled Navigator | Oh, the things I could show you—just look into my eye… | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 88 |
| Inquisitor Damarn, Ordo Malleus |
Mankind stands upon the brink; on one hand lies a realm of unimaginable power, on the other awaits darkness, death, and utter damnation. Only those that follow the guiding light of the Emperor may save their souls. -In regard to Astropaths and Navigators |
Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 7 |
G
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Lucien Gherrit Rogue Trader of the Clan Arcadius |
The armchair-admirals at the Navy academies will have it that combat in space is a predictable, scientific affair, akin to a game of regicide. They teach that you should only engage your enemy at this or that range, that it takes a particular number of escorts to engage one cruiser and a hundred other such nuggets of tedious, received wisdom.
What do they know? These academics and experts who have never felt the rush of blood as you close on your foe, his plasma containment failing as he bleeds out into the void? Who among them has closed to ranges that make the ‘experts’ splutter with indignation? Which of them know the visceral thrill that is the bloody murder of combat in space? I have felt the frozen kiss of the void as my hull split, and lived. I have hurled my warship at my foe as if it were a torpedo, and defeated him utterly. And I will do so again, a thousand times, until the Emperor or the universe decides I’ve done it once too often. – at the victory banquet aboard the Wotan following the defeat of the traitor 88th Flotilla |
Rogue Trader Core Rulebook, pg. 320 |
| Zygir Gith, Captain of the Helois Wanderer |
Captains talk about the dangers of the Expanse, the horrors of the Halo Stars, and the perils of walking the very edge of the galaxy itself. Of course, man’s fear of the void existed long before he had the means to travel it. | Rogue Trader Core Rulebook, pg. 288 |
| Grenfeld, Captain of the Hammer of Justice |
The whole principle of naval fighting is to be free to go anywhere with every damned thing the Navy possesses. | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 7 |
H
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Inquisitor Silas Hand, Ordo Malleus |
What grand jest is it, that the very means of Mankind’s journey to the stars should be the very stuff of his worst nightmares? The Warp! Always there. Always struggling to get out. Only a thought away! The Daemon populace ever ready to liberate themselves from the netherworld and take possession of ours. Measured by the years of a man’s life, the Imperium is eternal. And so, therefore, must be our vigil. If we slip in our duty, the end will surely dawn and an eternity of darkness shall reign! | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 6 |
| Hawke, Fleet-Admiral | He who seizes the moment, he is the right man. | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 11 |
K
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Searn Kelris, Senior Astropath of the Emperor’s Charge | We arm ourselves as you do, Master-at-Arms.. Our weapons are not so obvious as yours, perhaps, but they are no less deadly. | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 88 |
| Navigator Tiresias K’nal of House Mercator | A safe route!? A safe Warp route!? Better to ask me for an Ork who can pass for Scintillan Nobility, for I am far more likely to find one of those! No Warp route is safe. But some are merely dangerous, unpredictable, and a peril to the very soul, and those are the ones we seek. - commenting on navigation of the Koronus Expanse |
Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 38 |
| Navigator Mahiro Kovos of House Malaspina | “We trespass on a realm of fever dreams, and hope that we are not lost in sickened sleep. We sail an ocean of insanity and hope that the things beneath the waves do not deign to notice us. | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 26 |
M
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Melfira, Envoy of House Mercator | A good Navigator can steer her ship to dance through the insanity of the Immaterium, rolling off the Sea of Souls without sinking beneath the waves of madness. I guarantee you’ve never meet a bad Navigator, and if you do, that poor soul is likely to be among the last you meet. | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 91 |
| Hawke, Fleet-Admiral | He who seizes the moment, he is the right man. | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 11 |
N
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Voidsman Nithroc, of the Night Raven | Oh, there are monsters out in the night beyond the Imperium, to be sure. And, of course, there are monsters back within the bounds of its light, too. The trick is to walk between them without attracting attention. | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 114 |
R
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Rath, Admiral | A magnificent ship no doubt, but I would rather have a crew who knew their airlaps from their transons. - on receiving command of the Emperor class battleship Dominus Astra |
Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 10 |
S
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Fra Safrane, 5th aide to Navigator De'el(or Da'el) |
The warp is a strange and terrible place. You might as well throw a traveller into a sea of sharks and tell him to swim home as send him through the warp unprotected. Better it is not to let common man travel through the stars. Better still, let him not know such a thing is feasible. - Comment made prior to the departure of the second mission to search for the missing freighter Pride of Angelus. |
Deathwatch Core Rulebook, pg. 291 Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, pg. 24 Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook, pg. 103 Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 11 |
| Spire High Lord Admiral | Attack is the secret of defense; Defense is the planning of an attack.[Note 1] | Battlefleet Gothic: Armada (Video Game)  Classics
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| Oh Eternal God-Emperor, preserve us from the dangers of the void. -Before performing a Warp Jump. |
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada (Video Game) Classics
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| Rogue Trader Raol Straud | Of course humanity was meant to cross the void between the stars. It is our destiny, and it is for this purpose, the God-Emperor has seen fit to grant us the power necessary to ply the roiling Warp. The Navigator guides us by His light. The Astropath carries His torch to the darkest corners of space. We go in His Name, by His Will, for His Glory. And, of course, for the tidy profit we earn for our efforts in His grandest of plans. | Rogue Trader: The Navis Primer, pg. 4 |
V
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Winderson Vorsingrass, Captain |
There is little that gives a commander of the Navy such a feeling of dread as the sight of a vessel of the accursed aeldari. Fear, yes – we should not baulk at admitting our fear, for we are not the Emperor’s Angels, and weakening nerves can be steadied by catechisms of faith. The twisted ships of the traitor fleets, the brutal monstrosities of the orks, and other, stranger things can all inspire fear. However, they call only for a simple response – battle. The aeldari are the great unknown of the void. At times they will strike without warning, murder-swift and with merciless precision, until some unknowable aim has been achieved, at which point they will withdraw. At others, their vessels will slide by without acknowledgement, ignoring us as we might ignore braying livestock caged for transport in port. Sometimes they will appear as saviours and drive away our enemies, though only the witless and faithless would think that they perform such actions for our benefit. And yet when the mood takes them, they engage in the cruellest of sport, harrying and disabling our ships before boarding to make red ruin of the crew, and taking many more for some foul purpose or amusement in whatever hell they call home. This is why I feel the cold fingers of dread when I see those wasp-waisted vessels flickering in and out of view against the stars, for how can I make the best strategic decision when this enemy is so unknowable? A traitor or an ork or the creatures of a hive fleet are always an enemy, whereas today, aeldari interests may align with ours. At the least, to engage them without thought is to invite retribution, and perhaps find our fleets crushed between them and some other threat against whom, on another day and without a second enemy, we might have prevailed. Against whom, on another day, they might even have aided us. And yet, my duty is to safeguard the Imperium against all threats, and these arrogant xenos most certainly count as one. If I do not strike first, I might surrender the advantage to them if war is their intent. If I do not strike at all, and they leave us be in turn, might yet those same ships not darken the skies of an Imperial world tomorrow, or next week, or next year? They are a conundrum, and a scourge, and most vexatious. Those scholars I have met who claim some knowledge of the aeldari declare that they are but the remnants of an ancient empire, and even now are fading from the stars regardless of our actions. I can only pray to the Emperor that they fade faster. – Journal extract of Captain Winderson Vorsingrass, |
Voidscarred (Novel), Prologue |
W
| Speaker | Quote | Source |
| Admiral Joachim Wellax | As an Ensign, I served once with Captain Leoten Semper. He was a bold man, and never let the enemy set the rules of the engagement. Captain Semper always used to say it was better to make them dance to your tune than the other way around. | Dark Heresy: Ascension, pg. 8 |
Unattributed
| Quote | Speaker | Source |
| The Emperor is master of the galaxy, but the captain is master of his ship. | Popular naval saying | Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pg. 10 |
| The warp has a million ways to poison the human heart. | An ancient and melodramatic Navigator saying | Blood Reaver (Novel), Chapter VIII |
Trivia
- Note 1: This is a direct quote from Sun Tzu. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu pg. 32
