Quotes from Robert E. Lee

My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.

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

I have always observed that wherever you find the negro, everything is going down around him, and wherever you find the white man, you see everything around him improving.

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

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

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.

As a general principle you should not force young men to do their duty, but let them do it voluntarily and thereby develop their characters.

I should NOT be trading on the blood of my men.

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.

Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.

Say just what you mean to do on every occasion, and take it for granted you mean to do right.

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

There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.

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.

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

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.

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.

I consider the proper education of our youths one of the most important objects now to be attained and one from which the greatest benefits may be expected.

Cadets can neither be treated as schoolboys or soldiers.

Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans!

But what a cruel thing is war to separate and destroy families and friends.

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.

Act with a determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past and fears of the future.