Robert E. Lee Quotes

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Robert E. Lee

Profession : General

Birth : January 19, 1807

You must study to be frank with the world: Frankness is the child of honesty and courage.

Robert E. Lee

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.

Robert E. Lee

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.

Robert E. Lee

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

Robert E. Lee

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.

Robert E. Lee

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.

Robert E. Lee

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

Robert E. Lee

The education of a man is never completed until he dies.

Robert E. Lee

I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving.

Robert E. Lee

Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.

Robert E. Lee

A Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets has no charm for me. If the Union is dissolved and government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people, and save in defense will draw my sword on none.

Robert E. Lee

We failed, but in the good providence of God apparent failure often proves a blessing.

Robert E. Lee

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

Robert E. Lee

We have fought this fight as long, and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.

Robert E. Lee

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. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages.

Robert E. Lee

What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors.

Robert E. Lee

I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and I have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.

Robert E. Lee

The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

Robert E. Lee

Do your duty in all things, like the old Puritan. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.

Robert E. Lee

If you have any fault to find with anyone, tell him, not others, of what you complain; there is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back.

Robert E. Lee