General robert e lee biography quotes

“ The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman.

The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly--the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the men in a plain light.

The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled when he cannot help humbling others.”
― Robert E. Lee

Notable Quotes From Robert E. Lee

Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less.

You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey.

It is well that war is so terrible. Otherwise, we would grow too fond of it.

A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.

To be a good soldier, you must love the army. To be a good commander, you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.

True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels them—the desire to do right—is precisely the same.

I like whiskey. I always did, and that is the reason I never use it.

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.

(Regarding Northern abolitionists) These people must be aware that their object is both unlawful and foreign to them and to their duty, and that this institution, for which they are irresponsible and non-accountable, can only be changed by them through the agency of a civil and servile war.

In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country.

Save for defense of my native state, I never desire again to draw my sword.

While we see the course of the final abolition of human slavery is still onward, and give it the aid of our prayers, let us leave the progress as well as the results in the hands of Him who, chooses to work by slow influences, and with whom a thousand years are but as a single day.

I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honour for its preservation. I hope, therefore, that all constitutional means will be exhausted before there is a re

Robert Edward Lee (19 January1807 – 12 October1870) was an American soldier known for commanding the ConfederateArmy of Northern Virginia (and eventually all the armies of the Confederacy as general-in-chief) in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender to Ulysses S. Grant in 1865. The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and married Mary Custis.

Quotes

• Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans.
  • Advice to a Confederate widow who expressed animosity towards the northern U.S. after the end of the American Civil War, as quoted in The Life and Campaigns of General Lee (1875) by Edward Lee Childe, p. 331. Also quoted in "Will Confederate Heritage Advocates Take Robert E. Lee’s Advice?" (July 2014), by Brooks D. Simpson, Crossroads, WordPress. This quote is sometimes paraphrased as: "Madam, do not train up your children in hostility to the government of the United States. Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans."

• We must forgive our enemies. I can truly say that not a day has passed since the war began that I have not prayed for them.
  • As quoted in A Life of General Robert E. Lee (1871), by John Esten Cooke

• I cannot consent to place in the control of others one who cannot control himself.
  • Comment regarding officers who became inebriated, as quoted in Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of Gen. Rober