[When it started,] I had about 20,000 pilots donate their aircraft and fuel so we could fly 1 million kids by Dec. 17, 2003 (the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight), ... I flew the millionth one at the Nevada County Airport.

Most pilots learn, when they pin on their wings and go out and get in a fighter, especially, that one thing you don't do, you don't believe anything anybody tells you about an airplane.

I have flown in just about everything, with all kinds of pilots in all parts of the world - British, French, Pakistani, Iranian, Japanese, Chinese - and there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between any of them except for one unchanging, certain fact: the best, most skillful pilot has the most experience.

When I was picked to fly the X-1, it was my duty to fly it, and I did.

The secret to my success was that somehow I always managed to live to fly another day.

You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can't, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don't give up.