Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Ulysses S. Grant

142 quotes

“A measure which makes at once 4,000,000 people voters who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so (with the assertion that "at the time of the Declaration of Independence the opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black men had no rights which the white man was bound to respect"), is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free Government to the present day.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived directly from the people, must depend mainly upon their intelligence, patriotism, and industry. I call the attention, therefore, of the newly enfranchised race to the importance of their striving in every honorable manner to make themselves worthy of their new privilege. To the race more favored heretofore by our laws I would say, Withhold no legal privilege of advancement to the new citizen.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The framers of our Constitution firmly believed that a republican government could not endure without intelligence and education generally diffused among the people. The Father of his Country, in his Farewell Address, uses this language: Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would therefore call upon Congress to take all the means within their constitutional powers to promote and encourage popular education throughout the country, and upon the people everywhere to see to it that all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in the Government a blessing and not a danger. By such means only can the benefits contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution be secured.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“San Domingo, with a stable government, under which her immense resources can be developed, will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of laborers not now upon the island. This labor will take advantage of every available means of transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of freedom and its sequence—each inhabitant receiving the reward of his own labor. Porto Rico and Cuba will have to abolish slavery, as a measure of self-preservation, to retain their laborers.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Since the adjournment of Congress the ratifications of the treaty with Great Britain for abolishing the mixed courts for the suppression of the slave trade have been exchanged. It is believed that the slave trade is now confined to the eastern coast of Africa, whence the slaves are taken to Arabian markets.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a subject for congratulation that the great Empire of Brazil has taken the initiatory step toward the abolition of slavery. Our relations with that Empire, always cordial, will naturally be made more so by this act. It is not too much to hope that the Government of Brazil may hereafter find it for its interest, as well as intrinsically right, to advance toward entire emancipation more rapidly than the present act contemplates.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a subject for regret that the reforms in this direction which were voluntarily promised by the statesmen of Spain have not been carried out in its West India colonies. The laws and regulations for the apparent abolition of slavery in Cuba and Porto Rico leave most of the laborers in bondage, with no hope of release until their lives become a burden to their employers.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I desire to direct your attention to the fact that citizens of the United States, or persons claiming to be citizens of the United States, are large holders in foreign lands of this species of property, forbidden by the fundamental law of their alleged country. I recommend to Congress to provide by stringent legislation a suitable remedy against the holding, owning or dealing in slaves, or being interested in slave property, in foreign lands, either as owners, hirers, or mortgagors, by citizens of the United States.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is with regret that I have again to announce a continuance of the disturbed condition of the island of Cuba. No advance toward the pacification of the discontented part of the population has been made. While the insurrection has gained no advantages and exhibits no more of the elements of power or of the prospects of ultimate success than were exhibited a year ago, Spain, on the other hand, has not succeeded in its repression, and the parties stand apparently in the same relative attitude which they have occupied for a long time past.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This contest has lasted now for more than four years. Were its scene at a distance from our neighborhood, we might be indifferent to its result, although humanity could not be unmoved by many of its incidents wherever they might occur. It is, however, at our door.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can not doubt that the continued maintenance of slavery in Cuba is among the strongest inducements to the continuance of this strife. A terrible wrong is the natural cause of a terrible evil. The abolition of slavery and the introduction of other reforms in the administration of government in Cuba could not fail to advance the restoration of peace and order. It is greatly to be hoped that the present liberal Government of Spain will voluntarily adopt this view.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should be corrected. To this correction I stand committed, so far as Executive influence can avail.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall I ask that anything be done to advance the social status of the colored man, except to give him a fair chance to develop what there is good in him, give him access to the schools, and when he travels let him feel assured that his conduct will regulate the treatment and fare he will receive.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In taking leave of this subject for the present I wish to renew the expression of my conviction that the existence of African slavery in Cuba is a principal cause of the lamentable condition of the island. I do not doubt that Congress shares with me the hope that it will soon be made to disappear, and that peace and prosperity may follow its abolition.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Under existing conditions the negro votes the Republican ticket because he knows his friends are of that party. Many a good citizen votes the opposite, not because he agrees with the great principles of state which separate parties, but because, generally, he is opposed to negro rule. This is a most delusive cry. Treat the negro as a citizen and a voter, as he is and must remain, and soon parties will be divided, not on the color line, but on principle. Then we shall have no complaint of sectional interference.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us then begin by guarding against every enemy threatening the perpetuity of free republican institutions. I do not bring into this assemblage politics, certainly not partisan politics; but it is a fair subject for soldiers in their deliberations to consider what may be necessary to secure the prize for which they battled in a republic like ours. Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign — the people — should possess intelligence.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a nation. If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason’s and Dixon’s, but between patriotism and intelligence on one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other. Now in this centennial year of our national existence, I believe it a good time to begin the work of strengthening the foundation of the house commenced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred years ago, at Concord and Lexington.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us labor to add all needful guarantees for the more perfect security of free thought, free speech, and free press, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I leave comparisons to history, claiming only that I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Santo Domingo is fertile, and upon its soil may be grown just those tropical products of which the United States use so much, and which are produced or prepared for market now by slave labor almost exclusively, namely, sugar, coffee, dyewoods, mahogany, tropical fruits, tobacco, etc. About 75 per cent of the exports of Cuba are consumed in the United States. A large percentage of the exports of Brazil also find the same market. These are paid for almost exclusively in coin, legislation, particularly in Cuba, being unfavorable to a mutual exchange of the products of each country.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flour shipped from the Mississippi River to Havana can pass by the very entrance to the city on its way to a port in Spain, there pay a duty fixed upon articles to be reexported, transferred to a Spanish vessel and brought back almost to the point of starting, paying a second duty, and still leave a profit over what would be received by direct shipment. All that is produced in Cuba could be produced in Santo Domingo. Being a part of the United States, commerce between the island and mainland would be free. There would be no export duties on her shipments nor import duties on those coming here.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no more beautiful scenery or climate for summer travel than Switzerland presents. The people are industrious and honest, simple and frugal in their habits, and would be very poor with all this, if it were not from the travel through their country. I wish their surplus population would emigrate to the United States.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the last eight weeks I have seen but few American papers, and am consequently behind in home news. The foreign papers, however, have been full of the great railroad strike, and no doubt exaggerated it, bad as it was. The United States should always be prepared to put down such demonstrations promptly and with severe consequences for the guilty. I hope good may come out of this, in pointing out the necessity for having the proper remedy at hand in case of need. 'An ounce of preservation is worth a pound of cure'.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I never wanted to get out of a place as much as I did to get out of the presidency.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1879 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Around the World with General Grant Vol. 2 (1879) by John Russell Young
“As soon as slavery fired upon the flag it was felt, we all felt, even those who did not object to slaves, that slavery must be destroyed. We felt that it was a stain to the Union that men should be bought and sold like cattle.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1878 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Otto von Bismarck in June 1878, as quoted in Around the World with General Grant (1879), by John Russell Young, The American News Company, New York, vol. 7, p. 416
“There had to be an end of slavery. Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. No convention, no treaty was possible. Only destruction.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1878 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Otto von Bismarck in June 1878, as quoted in Around the World with General Grant (1879), by John Russell Young, The American News Company, New York, vol. 7, p. 416
“They fell upon an ungenial climate, where there were nine months of winter and three months of cold weather, and that called out the best energies of the men, and of the women too, to get a mere subsistence out of the soil, with such a climate. In their efforts to do that they cultivated industry and frugality at the same time — which is the real foundation of the greatness of the Pilgrims.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1880 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the Pilgrims, in a speech at a New England Society Dinner (22 December 1880)
“There is nothing more I should do to it now, and therefore I am not likely to be more ready to go than at this moment.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Note about his Memoirs about a week before he died, as quoted in Famous Last Words (2001) by Alan Bisbort, p. 30
“Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in London, as quoted in Memorial Life of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (1889) Edited by y Stephen Merrill Allen, p. 95
“I am a Republican, as the two great political parties as now divided, because the Republican party is a National party, seeking the greatest good for the greatest number of citizens. There is not a precinct in this vast Nation where a Democrat cannot cast his ballot and have it counted as cast. No matter what the prominence of the opposite party, he can proclaim his political opinions, even if he is only one among a thousand, without fear and without proscription on account of his opinions.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a Republican for many other reasons. The Republican party assures protection to life and property, the public credit and the payment of the debts of the Government, State, county, or municipality so far as it can control. The Democratic party does not promise this; if it does, it has broken its promises to the extent of hundreds of millions, as many Northern Democrats can testify to their sorrow.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Republican party is a party of progress and of liberality toward its opponents. It encourages the poor to strive to better their children, to enable them to compete successfully with their more fortunate associates, and, in fine, it secures an entire equality before the law of every citizen, no matter what his race, nationality, or previous condition. It tolerates no privileged class. Every one has the opportunity to make himself all he is capable of.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Generally, the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day, regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding the Mexican–American War (1883), as quoted in Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant (1885), p. 16
“The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the present, and so long as there are living witnesses of the great war of sections, there will be people who will not be consoled for the loss of a cause which they believed to be holy. As time passes, people, even of the South, will begin to wonder how it was possible that their ancestors ever fought for or justified institutions which acknowledged the right of property in man.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The right of revolution is an inherent one. When people are oppressed by their government, it is a natural right they enjoy to relieve themselves of the oppression, if they are strong enough, either by withdrawal from it, or by overthrowing it and substituting a government more acceptable. But any people or part of a people who resort to this remedy, stake their lives, their property, and every claim for protection given by citizenship — on the issue. Victory, or the conditions imposed by the conqueror — must be the result.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is preposterous to suppose that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules of government for all who are to come after them, and under unforeseen contingencies.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the 7th of June our little force of colored and white troops across the Mississippi, at Milliken's Bend, were attacked by about 3,000 men from Richard Taylor's trans-Mississippi command. With the aid of the gunboats they were speedily repelled. I sent Mower's brigade over with instructions to drive the enemy beyond the Tensas Bayou; and we had no further trouble in that quarter during the siege. This was the first important engagement of the war in which colored troops were under fire. These men were very raw, having all been enlisted since the beginning of the siege, but they behaved well.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told until they are believed to be true.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting, and said that he had asked for this interview for the purpose of getting from me the terms I proposed to give his army. I said that I meant merely that his army should lay down their arms, not to take them up again during the continuance of the war unless duly and properly exchanged. He said that he had so understood my letter.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United States will have to be attributed to slavery. For some years before the war began it was a trite saying among some politicians that 'A state half slave and half free cannot exist.' All must become slave or all free, or the state will go down. I took no part myself in any such view of the case at the time, but since the war is over, reviewing the whole question, I have come to the conclusion that the saying is quite true.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is probably well that we had the war when we did. We are better off now than we would have been without it, and have made more rapid progress than we otherwise should have made... But this war was a fearful lesson, and should teach us the necessity of avoiding wars in the future.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The war has made us a nation of great power and intelligence. We have but little to do to preserve peace, happiness and prosperity at home, and the respect of other nations. Our experience ought to teach us the necessity of the first; our power secures the latter.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you see me as a monster?”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Field of Lost Shoes (2014)
“Caste has no foothold in Santo Domingo. It is capable of supporting the entire colored population of the United States, should it choose to emigrate. The present difficulty, in bringing all parts of the United States to a happy unity and love of country grows out of the prejudice to color. The prejudice is a senseless one, but it exists. The colored man cannot be spared until his place is supplied, but with a refuge like San Domingo his worth here would soon be discovered, and he would soon receive such recognition to induce him to stay; or if Providence designed that the two races should not live to-gether he would find his home in the Antilles.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1869 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memorandum: Reasons why Santo Domingo should be annexed to the United States (1869-1870?)
“I. The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also Department orders, are hereby expelled from the Department. II. Within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order by Post Commanders, they will see that all of this class of people are furnished with passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification, will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners unless furnished with permits from these Head Quarters. III. No permits will be given these people to visit Head Quarters for the purpose of making personal application for trade permits.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: General Order Number 11 (17 December 1862); Abraham Lincoln on learning of this order drafted a note to his General-in-Chief of the Army, Henry Wager Halleck instructing him to rescind it. Halleck wrote to Grant:
“I have long since believed that in spite of all the vigilance that can be infused into post commanders, the special regulations of the Treasury Department have been violated, and that mostly by Jews and other unprincipled traders. So well satisfied have I been of this that I instructed the commanding officers at Columbus to refuse all permits to Jews to come South, and I have frequently had them expelled from the department, but they come in with their carpet-sacks in spite of all that can be done to prevent it. The Jews seem to be a privileged class that can travel anywhere. They will land at any woodyard on the river and make their way through the country. If not permitted to buy cotton themselves, they will act as agents for someone else, who will be at military post with a Treasury permit to receive cotton and pay for it in Treasury notes which the Jew will buy up at an agreed rate, paying gold.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1862 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to C. P. Wolcott, Assistant Secretary of War, Washington (17 December 1862)
“I feel no inclination to retaliate for the offences of irresponsible persons; but if it is the policy of any General intrusted with the command of troops to show no quarter, or to punish with death prisoners taken in battle, I will accept the issue. It may be you propose a different line of policy towards black troops, and officers commanding them, to that practiced towards white troops. So, I can assure you that these colored troops are regularly mustered into the service of the United States. The Government, and all officers under the Government, are bound to give the same protection to these troops that they do to any other troops.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding Confederate executions of captured Union prisoners of war at Milliken's Bend by hanging Letter to Richard Taylor at Vicksburg (1863)
“All I can say is that I am well. I have the enemy closely hemmed in all round. My position is naturally strong and fortified against an attack from outside. I have been so strongly reinforced that Johnston will have to come with a mighty host to drive me away. I do not look upon the fall of Vicksburg as in the least doubtful. If, however, I could have carried the place on the 22nd of last month, I could by this time have made a campaign that would have made the State of Mississippi almost safe for a solitary horseman to ride over. As it is, the enemy have a large army in it, and the season has so far advanced that water will be difficult to find for an army marching, besides the dust and heat that must be encountered. The fall of Vicksburg now will only result in the opening of the Mississippi River and demoralization of the enemy. I intended more from it. I did my best, however, and looking back can see no blunder committed.”
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Jesse Root Grant (15 June 1863), Vicksburg