Robert E. Lee was one of the greatest Confederate Generals during the Civil War.
“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”
–Robert E. Lee
“Never do a wrong thing to make a friend–or to keep one.”
–Robert E. Lee
“Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.”
–Robert E. Lee
“I can only say that I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation.”
–Robert E. Lee
“I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.”
–Robert E. Lee
“In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.”
–Robert E. Lee
“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”
–Robert E. Lee
“I like whiskey. I always did, and that is why I never drink it.”
–Robert E. Lee
“What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.”
–Robert E. Lee
“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. ”
–Robert E. Lee
“Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.”
–Robert E. Lee
“Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.”
–Robert E. Lee
“A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.”
–Robert E. Lee
“It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.”
–Robert E. Lee
“My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.”
–Robert E. Lee
“It is so bad that war is so terrible otherwise we might fall in love with it.”
–Robert E. Lee
“Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less.”
–Robert E. Lee
“There is a true glory and a true honor: the glory of duty done–the honor of the integrity of principle.”
–Robert E. Lee
“It is good that war is so horrible, otherwise we might grow to like it.”
–Robert E. Lee
“We all thought Richmond, protected as it was by our splendid fortifications and defended by our army of veterans, could not be taken. Yet Grant turned his face to our Capital, and never turned it away until we had surrendered. Now, I have carefully searched the military records of both ancient and modern history, and have never found Grant’s superior as a general. I doubt that his superior can be found in all history.”
–Robert E. Lee
can you tell me if this quote is a valid quote from robert e lee,,,”It has been my observation that a general deterioration seems to follow this race of people.”.. referring to slaves in the civil war era..i think it was made in response to a question from a harper magazine reporter at what is now washington and lee university.. thank you very much..
Lee never said “Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.”
Let’s discuss this particular incident (by the way when I learned this, I felt someone had ripped out my heart); to this day the quote remains above my desk, I removed only the Lees name. This was discovered discussed and proven while the participants were still alive why is it still showing up?
Because of people like Mildred Rutherford, Beverley Munford who were at the forefront and don’t get me wrong this was without malice and done for PR for the South and her men but be cautious even historians like Douglas Southall Freeman were known to put a romantic, heroic and many times a Southron twist to an event. Most importantly there was no rhyme or reason to have done this as it has hurt us far more than it helped.
My other favorite myth is William Mack Lee which has been thoroughly investigated and we can validate he was never Generals Lees cook, nor a slave from Arlington; though he was probably the son of Nancy one the Generals slaves. However the Virginia Historical Society stills sells the pamphlet put out by Mack Lee which makes the claim he was the General cook and personal slave; when confronted their reply is basically it is up to the purchaser to validate the content, which is ludicrous. Gary.
The Forged Letter of Robert E. Lee
We have all seen and heard I have it on a print and inscribed here upon my desk “Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less”. It comes from a letter Lee wrote to his son, G. W. Custis Lee (5 April 1852); and published in The New York Sun on (26 November 1864). While it was presumed authentic and included in many biographies of Lee, it was repudiated in December 1864 by University of Virginia law professor Charles A. Graves who verified that the letter was inconsistent with Lee’s biographical facts and letter-writing style. Lee’s son also wrote to Graves that he did not recall ever receiving such a letter. Mr. Graves then conducted a thorough investigation and presented his findings at the 26th annual meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association 17:176 (1914) these finding which by the way are irrefutably can be found here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=EMkDAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA176#v=onepage&q&f=false
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http://leearchive.wlu.edu/reference/books/graves/01_notes.html/