Ulysses S. Grant Quotes - Page 3

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.

Let no guilty man escape if it can be avoided. Be specially vigilant-or instruct those engaged in the prosecution of fraud to be-against all who insinuate that they have high influence to protect-or to protect them. No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.

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.

How do people come up with a date and a time to take life from another man? . . . Twelve white men say a black man must die, and another white man sets the date and time without consulting one black person. . . . They sentence you to death because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, with no proof that you had anything at all to do with the crime . . . . Yet six months later they come and unlock your cage and tell you, We, us, white folks all, have decided it's time for you to die, because this is the convenient date and time.

Retreat? NO. I propose to attach at daylight and whip them.

The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most.

I never wanted to get out of a place as much as I did to get out of the presidency.

Venice would be a fine city if it were only drained.

There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword.

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.

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.

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.

No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender. I propose to move immediately upon your works.

In 1850, I believe, the church property in the United States, which paid no tax, amounted to $87 million. In 1900, without a check, it is safe to say, this property will reach a sum exceeding $3 billion. I would suggest the taxation of all property equally.

Generally the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation [of Texas] was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.

Let no guilty man escape, if it can he avoided. . . . No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.

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.

Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also.

...I never heard him abuse an enemy. Some of the cruel things said about President Lincoln, particularly in the North, used to pierce him to the heart; but never in my presence did he evince a revengeful disposition.

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.

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.

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.

It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training.

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.

I suppose this work is part of the devil that is in us all.