Civil War Quotes

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  I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Abraham Lincoln (1999). “The Wit & Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Treasury of Quotations, Anecdotes, and Observations”, Gramercy

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• A house divided against itself cannot stand.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Leadership, Inspirational Life, Twilight

  Speech at Republican state convention nominating him to run for U.S. senator, Springfield, Ill., 16 June 1858

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• Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Patriotic

  Letter to Henry L. Pierce and Others, 6 Apr. 1859

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• What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.

  Robert E. Lee

  Beautiful, Peace, War

  Robert E. Lee (2016). “The Life and Letters of Robert E. Lee (Abridged)”, p.206, BIG BYTE BOOKS

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• The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.

  Ulysses S. Grant

  Art, Peace, Military

  Statement to John Hill Brinton at the start of his Tennessee River Campaign, early 1862. "Personal Memoirs of John H. Brinton, Major and Surgeon U.S.V., 1861-1865". Book by John H. Brinton, p. 239, 1914.

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• Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Change, Freedom, Father

  Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg, Pa., 19 Nov. 1863

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• As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Wisdom, Freedom, Humor

  "Definition of Democracy," ca. 1 Aug. 1858

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• The enemy is here, and if we do not whip him, he will whip us.

  Robert E. Lee

  War, Enemy, Whips

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  Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Inspirational, Leadership, Wisdom

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  The war...must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks...unless you acknowledge our right to self-government. We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence,and that, or extermination, we WILL have.

  Jefferson Davis

  War, Fall, Fighting

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• My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not to either save or destroy Slavery.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Struggle, Slavery

  Letter to Horace Greeley, 22 Aug. 1862

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• You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing!

  William Tecumseh Sherman

  War, Talking, People

  Said to David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary on December 24, 1860. "The Civil War: A Book of Quotations" by Robert Blaisdell, 2004.

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• The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds prevailed... Therefore they sent their emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to open an abyss between the two sections of the Union.

  Otto von Bismarck

  War, Block, Europe

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• America has no north, no south, no east, no west. The sun rises over the hills and sets over the mountains, the compass just points up and down, and we can laugh now at the absurd notion of there being a north and a south. We are one and undivided.

  Sam Watkins

  War, America, History

  44 Copy quote

• It was not war, it was murder.

  Daniel Harvey Hill

  War, Murder

  Daniel Harvey Hill (1899). “North Carolina”

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• It will be all right if it turns out all right.

  Ulysses S. Grant

  War, Turns, Ifs

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• If I gave McClellan all the men he asked for, they could not find room to lie down; they'd have to sleep standing up.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Lying, Sleep

  Abraham Lincoln (2001). “Lincoln's Words: Sentiments from the 16th President of the United States”

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• His argument is as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by oiling the shadow of a pigeon that had been starved to death.

  Abraham Lincoln

  War, Food, Shadow

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• The President is no more than a well-meaning baboon. I went to the White House directly after tea, where I found "The Original Gorilla", about as intelligent as ever. What a specimen to be at the head of our affairs now.

  George B. McClellan

  War, Intelligent, Government

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• You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end.

  William Tecumseh Sherman

  Country, War, Blood

  Said to David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary on December 24, 1860. "The Civil War: A Book of Quotations" by Robert Blaisdell, 2004.

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• The North can make a steam engine, locomotive or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or a pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical and determined people on earth - right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with.

  William Tecumseh Sherman

  Determination, Powerful, War

  Said to David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary on December 24, 1860. "The Civil War: A Book of Quotations" by Robert Blaisdell, 2004.

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• You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it. Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them?

  William Tecumseh Sherman

  Country, War, Mistake

  Said to David F. Boyd at the Louisiana State Seminary on December 24, 1860. "The Civil War: A Book of Quotations" by Robert Blaisdell, 2004.

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• South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.

  James L. Petigru

  War, Insane, Republic

  "Too large to be an asylum". Post and Courier, February 13, 2010.

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• Hair is also a problem. I remember once, when I was reporting from Beirut at the height of the civil war, someone wrote in to the BBC complaining about my appearance.

  Kate Adie

  War, Hair, Complaining

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• I am passionately interested in understanding how my country works. And if you want to know about this thing called the United States of America you have to know about the Civil War.

  Ken Burns

  Country, War, America

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