Robert Lee Quotes & Sayings

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

Death, in its silent sure march is fast gathering those whom I have longest loved, so that when he shall knock at my door, I will more willingly follow. — Robert E.Lee

Semtex, PE4, C-4, Plastrite, Netrolit, Spring Korper, Rowanex
Cono felt slightly shameful about his familiarity with plastics, and yet seeing them here, even so amateurishly arranged, gave him a perverse comfort. — Victor Robert Lee

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. — Robert E.Lee

In my country, when we think about the future, we shake. — Victor Robert Lee

Postal officials say that before Christmas they receive tons of letters written to Santa Claus, but after Christmas how few letters of thanks are sent to him! From childhood onward, human beings seem to be characterized by thanklessness. — Robert E.Lee

Shake off those gloomy feelings. Drive them away. Fix your mind and pleasures upon what is before you.All is bright if you will think it so. All is happy if you will make it so. Do not dream. It is too ideal, too imaginary. Dreaming by day, I mean. Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Take them as you find them. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage. — Robert E.Lee

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

All military history records the triumphs of discipline and courage far more frequently than numbers and resources. — Robert E.Lee

I am not one to generalize, but cartoonists, as a group, exhibit a level of social sophistication generally associated with pie fights. In high school, when the future lawyers were campaigning for class president, the future cartoonists were painstakingly altering illustrations in their history books so that Robert E. Lee appeared to be performing an illegal act with his horse. — Dave Barry

A pack of five dogs, as variable in size and shape as humans, trotted in a veering path toward the two men; they sniffed and growled and nipped at one another, then broke into a lope down the street, with the smallest mutt in the lead. — Victor Robert Lee

Let danger never turn you aside from the pursuit of honor or the service to your country ... Know that death is inevitable and the fame of virtue is immortal — Robert E.Lee

I believe in the goddess of mystery. And she's always pregnant! — Victor Robert Lee

The biggest mistake of my life was taking a military education. — Robert E.Lee

It is good that war is terrible. Or else we would become too fond of it. — Robert E.Lee

What a beautiful world God, in His loving kindness to His creatures, has given us! What a shame that men endowed with reason and knowledge of right should mar His gifts ... — Robert E.Lee

Richmond's newspaper questioned how a senior general could not even get two of his own generals to cooperate with him. They nicknamed him "Granny" Lee or "The King Of Spades," because he insisted that his men dig trenches on Sewell Mountain. — Clint Johnson

After all, the whole of humanity was anchored by inventions, contrivances, unrealities. Xiao Li lived on dreams, as most people do. — Victor Robert Lee

It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it. — Robert E.Lee

We must look to the rising generation for the restoration of the country. — Robert E.Lee

I will attack no matter what and win the war! — Robert E.Lee

It's only a cut, a reminder of this day. A reminder to ask every day, Why am I doing this? — Victor Robert Lee

Your death rides a fast camel. — Victor Robert Lee

I have favorite authors from a lifetime of reading, so there are some I'll automatically read every time they have a new novel. Included in them: Robert Goddard, Jeffery Deaver, Sophie Kinsella, Katherine Neville, Greg Isle, Laurie King, Lee Child, Lisa Tucker, Susan Howatch, Paul Auster. Barry Eisler, David Hewson, Tracy Chevalier. — M.J. Rose

We cannot afford to be idle, and though weaker than our opponents in men and military equipments, must endeavor to harass, if we cannot destroy them. — Robert E.Lee

It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. — Robert E.Lee

Our country demands all our strength, all our energies. To resist the powerful combination now forming against us will require every man at his place. If victorious, we will have everything to hope for in the future. If defeated, nothing will be left for us to live for. — Robert E.Lee

Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word "concern" out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice. — Robert E.Lee

In her opinion, Alexander Graham Bell and Clarence Birdseye are the two greatest Americans that ever lived excluding Robert E. Lee. She believes we never lost the War Between the States, that General Lee thought General Grant was the butler and just naturally handed him his sword. — Fannie Flagg

I am A man, not a sponge! If god wished a sponge to think, A SPONGE WOULD THINK! — 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

Robert E. Lee Prewitt. Isn't that a silly old name. — Donna Reed

He has freedom on his face. — Victor Robert Lee

It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it. — Robert E.Lee

You must be careful how you walk and where you go, for there are those following you who will set their feet where yours are set. — Robert E.Lee

All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth. — Robert E.Lee

Because all men are but reflections of their upbringing, education, and experiences, we also expend considerable effort scrutinizing both the man and the general who led the Army of Northern Virginia north that summer. Robert E. Lee was trained as an engineer at West Point, studied extensively the campaigns of the Great Captains of military history, and learned the art of command and maneuver at the elbow of General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War. The aggregate of these experiences had a profound and demonstrable influence on his generalship. It is against this backdrop of education and experience that Lee's decisions during the Gettysburg Campaign must be examined, understood, and judged. — Scott Bowden

F. Lee Bailey had been an inspiration to me. It was my desire to have him behind the scenes, to rely on his great wisdom and his brainpower, but I did not feel he should be in the courtroom. — Robert Shapiro

I had A Lover's Quarrel With The World Robert Lee Frost (Old Bennington Cemetery, Bennington, Vermont) Our Darling Eva We Love You. — Eva Gabor

The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it. — Robert E.Lee

The time is not come for impartial history. If the truth were told just now, it would not be credited. — Robert E.Lee

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

A man may manifest and communicate his joy, but he should conceal and smother his grief as much as possible. — Robert E.Lee

It's a heavy responsibility, having saved someone's life. You feel an allegiance because you saved them, but it's hard to know if you did the right thing. — Victor Robert Lee

Keep steady in the view of the great principles for which you contend. The safety of your homes and the lives of all you hold dear depend upon your courage and exertions. Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the right of self government, liberty and peace shall find him a defender. — Robert E.Lee

If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot: You will wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind. — Robert E.Lee

My heroes are Robert Duvall, Forest Whitaker, Ed Harris, Tommy Lee Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Sean Penn. — Walton Goggins

History is running very fast in my country. — Victor Robert Lee

Sir, if you ever presume again to speak disrespectfully of General Grant in my presence, either you or I will sever his connection with this university. — Robert E.Lee

It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it. — Robert E.Lee

She was like him, trying to embrace the moon while making her way in the world through instinct and drive that came only from within, because she had only herself. — Victor Robert Lee

You cannot be anything but who you are, and you are not a killer. I am a killer, all I need to know is who you need for me to kill. — James Lee Nathan III

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

The landscape in Montgomery and in the South is just saturated with imagery. Markers are everywhere. There's a marker for the first Confederate post office, there's a marker for a ball that Robert E. Lee hosted, there's a marker for where Jefferson Davis had a meeting. We love reminding people about all that was going on in the mid-nineteenth century. — Bryan Stevenson

No party should fear to go before the people for their decision. — Robert Lee Yates

But this attitude could not persist. Under the supervision of "oldtimers" like Joseph Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Braxton Bragg, and Thomas Jackson, complaisant officers were gradually weeded out and West Point ideas of discipline were adopted in the Southern armies. Before the campaigns of 1862 Johnny Reb was for the most part a changed man. He had shed most of his surplus equipment, and, of much greater importance, he had abandoned the idea that military life was "all fun and frolic." In short, the volunteer had become a soldier. — Bell Irvin Wiley

Leaders (Authors) are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them.
-Robert Jarvik — Taylor Lee

It's an old axiom of mine: marry your enemies and behead your friends. — Robert N. Lee

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself. — Robert E.Lee

The enemy is here, and if we do not whip him, he will whip us. — Robert E.Lee

The doctrines & miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to convert but a small part of the human race, & even among Christian nations, what gross errors still exist! — Robert E.Lee

I am of the opinion that all who can should vote for the most intelligent, honest, and conscientious men eligible to office, irrespective of former party opinions, who will endeavour to make the new constitutions and the laws passed under them as beneficial as possible to the true interests, prosperity, and liberty of all classes and conditions of the people. — Robert E.Lee

Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans. — Robert E.Lee

Duty is the sublimest work in the English language. — Robert E.Lee

I am now considered such a monster, that I hesitate to darken with my shadow, the doors of those I love, lest I should bring upon them misfortune. — Robert E.Lee

Oh, I know my family's not of royal blood, but you needn't throw it in my face all the time. — Robert N. Lee

We must forgive our enemies. — Robert E.Lee

Everyone should do all in his power to collect and disseminate the truth, in the hope that it may find a place in history and descend to posterity. History is not the relation of campaigns and battles and generals or other individuals, but that which shows the principles for which the South contended and which justified her struggle for those principles. — Robert E.Lee

You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey. — Robert E.Lee

Death is an inconvenience, to be sure," The Wizard Landau Bain, Lucky Stiff (still writing it) — Robert Lee Beers

Military metaphors are rarely exact, but sending Republicans against Democrats when the issue hangs in the balance is nearly always as futile as sending George B. McClellan against Robert E. Lee, the Italians against Marshal Montgomery's desert rats or an Arab armored division against an Israeli rifle company. The copy desk can write the headline before the battle begins and take the rest of the night off. — Wesley Pruden

The people need a strong leader. They feel insecure if they don't know who to fear. Isn't that why god was invented? — Victor Robert Lee

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

Better have a black face than be worried about black deeds. — Robert N. Lee

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

Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And in a war that you cannot win, you don't want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don't want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee, someone who knows how to fight for territory that can be won and how to surrender it when it can't, someone who understands that the damage is greatest if all you do is battle to the bitter end. — Atul Gawande

Someday, if we won, if humanity survived, we'd be in the history books. Me and Jake and Rachel and Cassie and Tobias and Ax. They'd be household names, like generals from World War II or the Civil War. Patton and Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. Kids would study us in school. Bored, probably.
And then the teacher would tell the story of Marco. I'd be a part of history. What I was about to do. Some kid would laugh. Some kid would say, "Cold, man. That was really cold."
I had to do it, kid. It was a war. It's the whole point, you stupid, smug, smirking little jerk! Don't you get it?
It was the whole point. We hurt the innocent in order to stop the evil. Innocent Hork-Bajir. Innocent Taxxons. Innocent human-Controllers. How else to stop the Yeerks? How else to win?
No choice, you punk. We did what we had to do.
"Cold, man. The Marco dude? He was just cold. — Katherine Applegate

I pray that on this day [Christmas] when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace. — Robert E.Lee

We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers — Robert E.Lee

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

Finally, mutually, and completely, they released all doubts, abandoned all fears, unwilling and unable to deny this overpowering love. — Emery Lee

It is glorious to see such courage in one so young. — 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

Few generals were as brilliant as Robert E. Lee and few battles as titanic
and puzzling
as Gettysburg. Why did Lee fail? In Lost Triumph, Tom Carhart offers a bold and provocative new assessment. Agree or disagree, it is sure to stimulate debate among even the most seasoned Civil War buffs. — Jay Winik

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

have got Lee just where I want him; he must fight me on my own ground." So he waited to see what would happen - which was usually a fatal thing to do in the vicinity of Robert E. Lee. — Allen C. Guelzo

Cono felt embarrassed by the thought that he might have been just another pitiful orphan trying to turn his friends into family, and that he might be blinded by this need, a need that colored his whole life, that ache to offer worth to someone. — Victor Robert Lee

I think [Robert E.] Lee should have been hanged. It was all the worse that he was a good man, had a good character, and acted conscientiously. It's always the good men who do the most harm. — Henry Adams

Uncle Wiggens ain't really my uncle, everyone just calls him that. He's over eighty and fought in the War Between the States. He only has one leg and one hero, General Robert E. Lee. Uncle Wiggens manages to work Lee's name into pretty much any old conversation. You might say, 'My, it's cold today,' and he'd reply, 'You think this is cold? General Lee said it didn't even qualify as chill till your breath froze on your nose and made a little icicle.' He had about five different stories of how he lost his leg, every one of them entertaining.
That night I was listening to the version that involved him running five Yankees into a bear's den. — Kristin Levine

Lee tells his troops. After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. — Robert E.Lee

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. — Robert E.Lee

The simple view is that medicine exists to fight death and disease, and that is, of course, its most basic task. Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And, in a war that you cannot win, you don't want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don't want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee, someone who knew how to fight for territory when he could and how to surrender when he couldn't, someone who understood that the damage is greatest if all you do is fight to the bitter end. — Atul Gawande

My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian. — Robert E.Lee

Sounds like the rival is a good soldier, Cono said. Like the Russians say, a bad soldier is one who doesn't try to become a general. — Victor Robert Lee

The devil's name is dullness. — Robert E.Lee

A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others. — Robert E.Lee

They do not know what they say. If it came to a conflict of arms, the war will last at least four years. Northern politicians will not appreciate the determination and pluck of the South, and Southern politicians do not appreciate the numbers, resources, and patient perseverance of the North. Both sides forget that we are all Americans. I foresee that our country will pass through a terrible ordeal, a necessary expiation, perhaps, for our national sins. — Robert E.Lee

We must enlist our own snake and strike like a cobra against their vitals with an attack on Washington. — Robert E.Lee

Notwithstanding our boastful assertions to the world, for nearly a century, that our government was based on the consent of the people, it rests upon force, as much as any government that ever existed. - Robert E. Lee — William C. Davis

Cono knew that all three of his tormentors would know the anthem by heart from their childhood years. They had sung it daily to belong to the elite of their country, wearing around their necks the red ties of the Communist Party Youth Brigade, which had formed their beings and all that they would be and would ever believe, even as communism became a ghost and the party a web of corruption. — Victor Robert Lee