the pilot will always be the first to the scene of a crash and we usually want to get home for tea, stickies and beer.
This old adage, true as it may be, needs refinement:
The fact that pilots
don't want to crash/die/screw up, doesn't mean they
won't. A part from a few, no crashes in aviation history have been attributable to wilful negligence or conscious crashing. You know the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"?
The statement speaks volumes about human behaviour, and nothing about air safety, when you really think about it.
(Coincidentally, the specific wording in the quote have in fact been attributable to several accidents: "get-there-itis". But that is another point.)