Years Later, Captain John Paul Jones Best US Navy Line Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

John Paul Jones’s line—“I have not yet begun to fight!”—is repeatedly cited as one of the most enduring military quotes in U.S. Armed Forces history. The article traces the remark to 23 September 1779, when Captain Richard Pearson of HMS Serapis called out to ask whether the American ship had struck her colors. At the time, Bonhomme Richard was burning and taking on water off Flamborough Head, according to the account relayed by Lieutenant Richard Dale. Born John Paul in 1747 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, Jones later joined the Continental Navy and gained prominence through raids against British targets and his command of Bonhomme Richard in the Battle of Flamborough Head.