Robert E. Lee Quotes

All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.

I would rather die a thousand deaths than surrender.

Without music, we wouldn't have an Army.

The enemy never sees the backs of my Texans!

In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.

My experience through life has convinced me that, while moderation and temperance in all things are commendable and beneficial, abstinence from spirituous liquors is the best safeguard of morals and health.

A land without memories is a people without liberty.

The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.

Traveler is my only companion; I may also say my pleasure. He and I, whenever practicable, wander out in the mountains and enjoy sweet confidence.

Private and public life are subject to the same rules-truth and manliness are two qualities that will carry you through this world much better than policy or tact of expediency or other words that were devised to conceal a deviation from a straight line.

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.

I endeavored to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all his mercies to me, for his preservation of me through all the dangers I have passed, and all the blessings which he has bestowed upon me, for I know I fall far short of my obligations

All this has been my fault.

The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.

We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers

The time is not come for impartial history. If the truth were told just now, it would not be credited.

Marry...into a family that will enable your children to feel proud of both sides of the house.

Say what you mean to do...and take it for granted you mean to do right. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one...you will wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind.

We must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies, and to prevent our falling into greater disasters.

I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it.

Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans.

Every student must be a gentleman.

I can only say that I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation.

Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South, I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native State?

I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than the dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation.

No blame can be attached to the army for its failure to accomplish what was projected by me... I alone am to blame, in perhaps expecting too much of its prowess and valor... could I have foreseen that the attack on the last day would fail, I should certainly have tried some other course... but I do not know what better course I could have pursued.

If we do not do this our churches will lighthouses without light, wells without water, dumb witnesses, sleeping watchmen, silent trumpets, messengers without tidings, a comfort for infidels, jubilant joys to the devil, and an offense to God.

With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relative, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army.

Why, it appears that we appointed all of our worst generals to command the armies and we appointed all of our best generals to edit the newspapers. I mean, I found by reading a newspaper that these editor generals saw all of the defects plainly from the start but didn't tell me until it was too late. I'm willing to yield my place to these best generals and I'll do my best for the cause by editing a newspaper.

Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.

There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back.

Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans!

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

My experiences of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them nor be indisposed to serve them: nor, in spite of failures which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge, or the present aspect of affairs, do I despair of the future. The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.

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

There is a true glory and a true honor: the glory of duty done--the honor of the integrity of principle.

We have but one rule here, and that is that every student must be a gentleman.

Respect is based on Friendship,and friendship is based on love and love is so accidental isn't it ?

It is glorious to see such courage in one so young.

Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Take them as you find them. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage.

I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God.

Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret.

Whither shall I flee? To no country on earth that I know of where there is as much liberty as yet remains to me even in Virginia.

No day should be lived unless it was begun with a prayer of thankfulness and an intercession for guidance.

What a glorious world Almighty God has given us. How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor to mar his gifts.

The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will.

Ideas are easy to conceive, less easy to execute.

He has lost his left arm, but I my right.