"Aviation is proof that given, the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible"
About this Quote
Aviation is doing a lot of argumentative work here: it is not just an industry or a marvel, but a courtroom exhibit. Rickenbacker frames flight as “proof,” a hard, modern kind of faith grounded in rivets, fuel, and risk. The line’s persuasive trick is how it converts an awe-struck reaction (“humans can fly”) into a moral thesis: progress isn’t luck or destiny, it’s willpower made visible.
The phrasing is slightly clumsy - “given, the will” reads like a spoken stumble - but that roughness actually helps. It feels like a man who learned ambition in emergencies, not in seminars. Rickenbacker wasn’t a poet; he was an aviator who lived inside the early 20th century’s obsession with speed, machinery, and national competition. For someone who fought in World War I and later became a symbol of American aviation, “the impossible” carries wartime weight: flight was a new kind of advantage, and the stakes weren’t abstract.
The subtext is bootstrap optimism with a propeller. “We” is doing the inclusive lift, inviting the listener to identify with the builders and pilots rather than the doubters. It’s also a quiet rebuke to complacency: if the impossible has already been done, what excuse do you have now? In an era when aviation shifted from stunt to infrastructure, Rickenbacker’s intent is to turn wonder into civic energy - to make technological breakthrough feel like a human obligation.
The phrasing is slightly clumsy - “given, the will” reads like a spoken stumble - but that roughness actually helps. It feels like a man who learned ambition in emergencies, not in seminars. Rickenbacker wasn’t a poet; he was an aviator who lived inside the early 20th century’s obsession with speed, machinery, and national competition. For someone who fought in World War I and later became a symbol of American aviation, “the impossible” carries wartime weight: flight was a new kind of advantage, and the stakes weren’t abstract.
The subtext is bootstrap optimism with a propeller. “We” is doing the inclusive lift, inviting the listener to identify with the builders and pilots rather than the doubters. It’s also a quiet rebuke to complacency: if the impossible has already been done, what excuse do you have now? In an era when aviation shifted from stunt to infrastructure, Rickenbacker’s intent is to turn wonder into civic energy - to make technological breakthrough feel like a human obligation.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
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