His much less famous response, in the late phase of the Battle of Flamborough Head, 23 September 1779, to an inquiry by his opponent (Captain Richard Pearson of the Royal Navy ship HMS Serapis) as to whether he was surrendering his ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, which was by this time very seriously damaged.
:This was what some of his sailors, reported in British newspapers at the time, claimed he had said; Jones's official report merely stated that he had answered "in the most determined negative".
“I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm alien.”
George V of the United Kingdom (1865–1936) King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India
Allegedly said in response to H. G. Wells's criticism of his "alien [i.e. German-descended] and uninspiring court"
Attributed
“And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinking.”
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Christine Feehan American writer
Source: Oceans of Fire
William Howard Taft (1857–1930) American politician, 27th President of the United States (in office from 1909 to 1913)
Quoted in Archibald W. Butt (1930), Taft and Roosevelt.
Attributed
“May I look on thee when my last hour comes; may I hold thy hand, as I sink, in my dying clasp.”
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,<br/>Et teneam moriens deficiente manu.
Tibullus (-50–-19 BC) poet and writer (0054-0019)
Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora,
Et teneam moriens deficiente manu.
Bk. 1, no. 1, line 59.
Variant translation: May I be looking at you when my last hour has come, and dying may I hold you with my weakening hand.
Elegies
Paul Reubens (1952) American actor, writer, film producer, game show host, and comedian
2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly
2004 Child Porn Charges
