thy sea is so great

O God, thy sea is so great

and my boat is so small.

"This Old Breton prayer was given to new submarine captains by Admiral Hyman Rickover who gave this brass plaque to the President. President Kennedy favored this quote and used it in his remarks at the dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea, May 23, 1963. He kept the plaque on his desk in the Oval Office."

from the website of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum