yarrr, ye scurvy boy-king, halt ye whinin'

Finally he asked a question and I thought I could redeem myself. He said, "How did you stand in your class at the Naval Academy?" Since I had completed my sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe, I had done very well, and I swelled my chest with pride and answered, "Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820!" I sat back to wait for the congratulations--which never came. Instead the question: "Did you do your best?" I started to say, "Yes, sir," but I remembered who this was and recalled several of the many times at the Academy where I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy and so forth. I was just human. I finally gulped and said, "No sir, I didn't always do my best."

He looked at me for a long time, and then turned his chair around to end the interview. He asked one final question, which I have never been able to forget--or to answer. He said, "Why not?" I sat there for a while, shaken, and then slowly left the room.

from "Rickover: Controversy and Genius" by Polmar and Allen