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There is no record of such a quotation, but the idea of burning ships seems to have originated with the Greeks in the 4th or 5th century BC.

* Hernan Cortes, sailing into Yucatan (Mexico) to conquer the Aztecs in 1519, ordered all but one of his ships scuttled so that none of his force could retreat back to Cuba. (The remaining ship sailed back to Spain with gold, and to bring word of his intentions.) For any of several reasons, the act has been erroneously perpetuated as "burning" the ships.

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