Top 100 Ulysses S. Grant Quotes
#1. There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots. And I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter and, I trust, the stronger party.
Ulysses S. Grant
#4. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.
Ulysses S. Grant
#5. The most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticized.
Ulysses S. Grant
#6. he had sixty thousand as good soldiers as ever trod the earth; better than any European soldiers, because they not only worked like a machine but the machine thought. European armies know very little what they are fighting for, and care less.
Ulysses S. Grant
#7. Whatever there is of greatness in the United States, or indeed in any other country, is due to labor. The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth. Without labor there would be no government, no leading class, and nothing to preserve.
Ulysses S. Grant
#8. I do not believe I ever would have the courage to fight a duel. If any man should wrong me to the extent of my being willing to kill him, I would not be willing to give him the choice of weapons with which it should be done, and of the time, place and distance separating us, when I executed him.
Ulysses S. Grant
#9. Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also.
Ulysses S. Grant
#11. The fact is I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three.
Ulysses S. Grant
#12. It is men who wait to be selected, and not those who seek, from whom we may expect the most efficient service.
Ulysses S. Grant
#13. War is progressive because all instruments of war are progressive.
Ulysses S. Grant
#15. No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender. I propose to move immediately upon your works.
Ulysses S. Grant
#16. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.
Ulysses S. Grant
#17. My judgment now is that he was vacillating and undecided in his actions.
Ulysses S. Grant
#18. I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly
Ulysses S. Grant
#22. Let no guilty man escape, if it can he avoided ... No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.
Ulysses S. Grant
#23. To maintain peace in the future it is necessary to be prepared for war.
Ulysses S. Grant
#24. Quit thinking about what Bobby Lee's gonna do to us and start thinking about what we're going to do to him.
Ulysses S. Grant
#25. In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten then he who continues the attack wins.
Ulysses S. Grant
#26. The darkest day of my life was the day I heard of Lincoln's assassination. I did not know what it meant. Here was the rebellion put down in the field, and starting up in the gutters...
Ulysses S. Grant
#27. I would like to call your attention to ... an evil that, if allowed to continue, will probably lead to great trouble ... It is the accumulation of vast amounts of untaxed church property.
Ulysses S. Grant
#28. I felt that 15,000 men on the 8th would be more effective than 50,000 a month later.
Ulysses S. Grant
#29. There are many men who would have done better than I did under the circumstances in which I found myself. If I had never held command, if I had fallen, there were 10,000 behind who would have followed the contest to the end and never surrendered the Union.
Ulysses S. Grant
#30. Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives.
Ulysses S. Grant
#31. Leave the matter of religion to the family altar the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.
Ulysses S. Grant
#32. I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent.
Ulysses S. Grant
#33. The enemy had been much demoralized by his defeats at Champion's Hill and the Big Black, and I believed he would not make much effort to hold Vicksburg.
Ulysses S. Grant
#34. I know only two tunes. One of them is 'Yankee Doodle' the other isn't.
Ulysses S. Grant
#35. I have made it a rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up, but I don't see how I can ever trust any human being again.
Ulysses S. Grant
#36. I suppose this work is part of the devil that is in us all.
Ulysses S. Grant
#37. Declare Church and State forever separate and distinct, but each free within their proper spheres, and that all church property shall bear its own proportion of taxation.
Ulysses S. Grant
#38. Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.
Ulysses S. Grant
#39. Our great modern Republic. May those who seek the blessings of its institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations they impose.
Ulysses S. Grant
#40. The colored man has been accustomed all his life to lean on the white man, and if a good officer is placed over him, he will learn readily and make a good soldier.
Ulysses S. Grant
#41. It does look like a very good exercise. But what is the little white ball for?
Ulysses S. Grant
#43. I knew the enemy were ready to break and only wanted a little encouragement from us to go quickly and join their friends who had started earlier.
Ulysses S. Grant
#44. Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.
Ulysses S. Grant
#45. Correspondents of the press were ever on hand to hear every word dropped, and were not always disposed to report correctly what did not confirm their preconceived notions, either about the conduct of the war or the individuals concerned in it.
Ulysses S. Grant
#46. The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who have helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.
Ulysses S. Grant
#47. No theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing, in good faith, any order I may receive from those in authority over me.
Ulysses S. Grant
#49. But the Nation had already become restless and discouraged at the prolongation of the war, and many believed that it would never terminate except by compromise.
Ulysses S. Grant
#50. Anything is better than indecision. We must decide. If I am wrong, we shall soon find out and can do the other thing. But not to decide wastes both time and money and may ruin everything.
Ulysses S. Grant
#51. When news of the surrender first reached our lines our men commenced firing a salute of a hundred guns in honor of the victory. I at once sent word, however, to have it stopped. The Confederates were now our prisoners, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.
Ulysses S. Grant
#52. I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
Ulysses S. Grant
#53. While a battle is raging one can see his enemy mowed down by the thousand, or the ten thousand, with great composure; but after the battle these scenes are distressing, and one is naturally disposed to do as much to alleviate the suffering of an enemy as a friend.
Ulysses S. Grant
#54. The problem for us was to move forward to a decisive victory, or our cause was lost.
Ulysses S. Grant
#55. England and the United States are natural allies, and should be the best of friends.
Ulysses S. Grant
#56. The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times.
Ulysses S. Grant
#59. You can violate the law. The banks may violate the law and be sustained in doing so. But the President of the United States cannot violate the law.
Ulysses S. Grant
#60. It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training.
Ulysses S. Grant
#61. Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.
Ulysses S. Grant
#62. If men make war in slavish observance of rules, they will fail. No rules will apply to conditions of war as different as those which exist in Europe and America ... War is progressive, because all the instruments and elements of war are progressive.
Ulysses S. Grant
#63. If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail.
Ulysses S. Grant
#64. So vast a sum, receiving all the protection and benefits of the government, without bearing its proportion of the burdens and expenses of the same, will not be looked upon acquiescently by those who have to pay the taxes ... I would suggest the taxation of all property equally.
Ulysses S. Grant
#65. As time passes, people, even of the South, will begin to wonder how it was possible that their ancestors ever fought for or justified institutions which acknowledged the right of property in man.
Ulysses S. Grant
#66. The distant rear of an army engaged in battle is not the best place from which to judge correctly what is going on in front.
Ulysses S. Grant
#67. I believe that our Great Maker is preparing the world, in His own good time, to become one nation, speaking one language, and when armies and navies will be no longer required.
Ulysses S. Grant
#68. Nothing could be more dishonorable than to accept high rank and command in war and then betray the trust.
Ulysses S. Grant
#69. The long-continued and useful public service and eminent purity of character of the deceased ex-President will be remembered.
Ulysses S. Grant
#70. I never knew what to do with a paper except to put it in a side pocket or pass it to a clerk who understood it better than I did.
Ulysses S. Grant
#71. No political party can or ought to exist when one of its corner-stones is opposition to freedom of thought and to the right to worship God "according to the dictate of one's own conscience," or according to the creed of any religious denomination whatever.
Ulysses S. Grant
#72. A military life had no charms for me, and I had not the faintest idea of staying in the army even if I should be graduated, which I did not expect,
Ulysses S. Grant
#73. The right of revolution is an inherent one. When people are oppressed by their government, it is a natural right they enjoy to relieve themselves of oppression, if they are strong enough, whether by withdrawal from it, or by overthrowing it and substituting a government more acceptable.
Ulysses S. Grant
#74. But my later experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticised.
Ulysses S. Grant
#75. Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future.
Ulysses S. Grant
#76. Retreat? NO. I propose to attach at daylight and whip them.
Ulysses S. Grant
#77. We're teachers, and we have a commitment." "Commitment to what-to live and die in this hellhole, when we can leave and live like other people?
Ulysses S. Grant
#78. If you see the President, tell him from me that whatever happens there will be no turning back.
Ulysses S. Grant
#79. There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.
Ulysses S. Grant
#80. Jesse has a new dog. You may have noticed that his former pets have been peculiarly unfortunate. When this dog dies every employee in the White House will be at once discharged.
Ulysses S. Grant
#81. But for a soldier his duty is plain. He is to obey the orders of all those placed over him and whip the enemy wherever he meets him.
Ulysses S. Grant
#82. Really, Mr. Lincoln, I have had enough of this show business.
Ulysses S. Grant
#83. I thought how little interest the men before me had in the results of the war, and how little knowledge they had of "what it was all about.
Ulysses S. Grant
#85. The one thing I never want to see again is a military parade. When I resigned from the army and went to a farm I was happy. When the rebellion came, I returned to the service because it was a duty. I had no thought of rank; all I did was try and make.
Ulysses S. Grant
#86. There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword.
Ulysses S. Grant
#87. I never was an Abolitionest, not even what could be called anti slavery, but I try to judge farely and honestly and it become patent to my mind early in the rebellion that the North and South could never live at peace with each other except as one nation, and that without Slavery.
Ulysses S. Grant
#88. All secret oath-bound political parties are dangerous to any nation, no matter how pure or how patriotic the motives and principles which first bring them together.
Ulysses S. Grant
#89. On several occasions during the war he came to the relief of the Union army by means of his SUPERIOR MILITARY GENIUS.
Ulysses S. Grant
#90. The United States, knowing no distinction of her own citizens on account of religion or nationality, naturally believes in a civilization the world over which will secure the same universal laws.
Ulysses S. Grant
#91. The Jews are a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also department orders and are herein expelled from the department within 24 hours from receipt of this order.
Ulysses S. Grant
#92. As soon as slavery fired upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did not object to slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle.
Ulysses S. Grant
#93. My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral
Ulysses S. Grant
#94. If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.
Ulysses S. Grant
#95. I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally.
Ulysses S. Grant
#96. Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, accomplished.
Ulysses S. Grant
#97. He preferred yielding his own wish to gratify others, rather than to insist upon having his own way.
Ulysses S. Grant
#98. It is preposterous to suppose that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules of government for all who are to come after them, and under unforeseen contingencies.
Ulysses S. Grant
#99. There is nothing more I should do to it now, and therefore I am not likely to be more ready to go than at this moment.
Ulysses S. Grant
#100. I feel that we are on the eve of a new era, when there is to be great harmony between the Federal and Confederate. I cannot stay to be a living witness to the correctness of this prophecy; but I feel it within me that it is to be so.
Ulysses S. Grant
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