Top 115 Quotes & Sayings by Ulysses S. Grant - Page 2

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly

It does look like a very good exercise. But what is the little white ball for?

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

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.

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.

The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United Status will have to be attributed to slavery.

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'm afraid I'm elected.

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.

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.

I know only two tunes: one of them is "Yankee Doodle" and the other isn't.

The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most.

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

...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.

I would suggest the taxation of all property equally whether church or corporation.

The theory of government changes with general progress.

England and the United States are natural allies, and should be the best of friends.

In 1856...I preferred the success of a candidate whose election would prevent or postpone secession, to seeing the country plunged into a war the end of which no man could foretell. With a Democrat elected by the unanimous vote of the Slave States, there could be no pretext for secession for four years.... I therefore voted for James Buchanan as President.

The long-continued and useful public service and eminent purity of character of the deceased ex-President will be remembered.

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.

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.

I will raid the arsenal and start a war to end slavery.

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.

My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral

In politics I am growing indifferent - I would like it, if I could now return to my planting and books at home

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.

Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, accomplished.

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.

Wherever the enemy goes let our troops go also.

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

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.

Really, Mr. Lincoln, I have had enough of this show business.

Declare church and state forever separate and distinct; but each free within their proper spheres.

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?

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.

I read the story and reread the story, but I still could not find the universality that the little Irishman had spoken of. All I saw in the story was some Irishmen meeting in a room and talking politics. What had that to do with America, especially with my people? It was not until years later that I saw what he meant ... I began to listen, to listen closely to how they talked about their heroes, to how they talked about the dead and how great the dead had once been. I heard it everywhere.

The natural disposition of most people is to clothe a commander of a large army whom they do not know, with almost superhuman abilities. A large part of the National army, for instance, and most of the press of the country, clothed General Lee with just such qualities, but I had known him personally, and knew that he was mortal; and it was just as well that I felt this.

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.

I desire the good-will of all, whether hitherto my friends or not.

Ah, you know my weaknesses--my children and my horses.

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.

...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.

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.

War is progressive because all instruments of war are progressive.