Nathan Bedford Forrest Famous Quotes & Sayings

I went into the army worth a million and a half dollars, and came out a beggar. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I am not here to pass civilities or compliments with you, but on other business. I have stood your meanness as long as I intend to. You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it. You may as well not issue any more orders to me, for I will not obey them ... and as I say to you that if you ever again try to interfere with me or cross my path it will be at the peril of your life. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I am not an enemy of the Negro. We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nobody kills me and lives to tell about it. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I did not come here for the purpose of surrendering my command. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I have stood your meanness as long as I intend to. You have played the part of a damn scoundrel, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it ... — Nathan Bedford Forrest

If one road led to hell and the other to Mexico, I would be indifferent which to take. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment. Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

What I desire most of you, my son, is never to gamble or swear. These are baneful vices. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I done told you twice already goddammit no! — Nathan Bedford Forrest

If you surrender you shall be treated as prisoners of war, but if I haveto storm your works you may expect no quarter. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I loved the old government in 1861. I loved the old Constitution yet. I think it is the best government in the world, if administered as it was before the war. I do not hate it; I am opposing now only the radical revolutionists who are trying to destroy it. I believe that party to be composed, as I know it is in Tennessee, of the worst men on Gods earth - men who would not hesitate at no crime, and who have only one object in view - to enrich themselves. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

Attack in all directions! — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I will be in my coffin before I will fight again under your command. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

No damn man kills me and lives. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

Abolish the Loyal League and the Ku Klux Klan; let us come together and stand together. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

I have never on the field of battle sent you where I was unwilling to go myself, nor would I now advise you to a course which I felt myself unwilling to pursue. You have been good soldiers. You can be good citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, and the government to which you have surrendered can afford to be and will be magnanimous. — Nathan Bedford Forrest

We are born on the same soil, breathe the same air, live on the same land, and why should we not be brothers and sisters? — Nathan Bedford Forrest