You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.
William Tecumseh ShermanIf nominated by either party, I should peremptorily decline, and even if unanimously elected, I should decline to serve.
William Tecumseh ShermanThe way to success is strategically along the way of least expectation and tactically along the line of least resistance.
William Tecumseh ShermanThe 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 ShermanSome of you young men think that war is all glamour and glory, but let me tell you, boys, it is all hell!
William Tecumseh ShermanGrant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other.
William Tecumseh ShermanI confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting — its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers ... it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated ... that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.
William Tecumseh Sherman