“As they take eye for an eye until no one can see,
we must stumble blindly forward, repeating history.”

These are instructions often attributed to Prescott at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but though little doubt exists that he declared them, many reports indicate they originated with Major General Israel Putnam, and even earlier instances of similar instructions have been attributed to others.
Don't fire until I tell you; don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
Prescott, as quoted in The New England Magazine Vo. XI (September 1894 - February 1895), p. 367
Powder is scarce and must not be wasted. Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes. Then aim low. Aim at their waistbands, aim at the handsome coats; pick off the officers.
Instructions of Israel Putnam as quoted in "Revolutionary Heroes — No. I" in National Magazine (February 1858). p. 104. In An Essay on the Life of the Honourable Major General Israel Putnam (1818) by David Humphreys, it is indicated that these instructions were first given by Putnam and then reiterated by veteran officers Prescott, Pomeroy, John Stark, and others.
Men, you are all marksmen — don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
Philip Johnson of Newburyport is quoted as having distinctly heard Putnam say this in the History of the Siege of Boston (1873) by Richard Frothingham, p. 140. This work also indicates such instructions were repeated by many of the officers.
By push of bayonets — no firing till you see the whites of their eyes!
Attributed to Frederick the Great in the Battle of Prague (6 May 1757), in A Popular History of the United States (1879) by William Cullen Bryant and Sydney Howard Gay, Vol. III, p. 403
Silent until you see the whites of their eyes.
Attributed to a Prince Charles against the Austrian army at Jägendorf (22 May 1745) in A Popular History of the United States (1879) by William Cullen Bryant and Sydney Howard Gay, Vol. III, p. 403
Dinna fire till ye see the whites o' their e'en!
Attributed to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, as instructions to the Royal Scots Fusiliers at the Battle of Dettingen (27 June 1743), in The Agnews of Lochnaw : A History of the Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway (1864) by Andrew Agnew, Ch. 33 : The twelfth Hereditary Sheriff, p. 543
Misattributed

Sermon IV : True Hearing
Meister Eckhart’s Sermons (1909)
Context: The man who abides in the will of God wills nothing else than what God is, and what He wills. If he were ill he would not wish to be well. If he really abides in God's will, all pain is to him a joy, all complication, simple: yea, even the pains of hell would be a joy to him. He is free and gone out from himself, and from all that he receives, he must be free. If my eye is to discern colour, it must itself be free from all colour. The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God's eye is one eye, and one sight, and one knowledge, and one love.

As quoted in his Excelling at Positional Chess (2003), p. 159.

Source: The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

Rules of the Game: The Style Diaries (2007)
Context: Every adventure to be had in this room is on the dark side. The people on the light side are asleep right now. And they are dreaming about the dark side. Because the more you try to repress the dark side, the stronger it gets, until it finds its own way to the surface. I sleep well. I dream of angels and sponge cake and panda bears. I don’t see the dark side until I open my eyes.

Source: The Invention of Wings