Ulysses S. Grant was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in American history. A hero in all rights, Grant led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War in 1865 as the commanding general and his exploits contributed to the abolition of slavery in the US.
Thereafter, he was elected as the 18th President of the United States and served in the position from 1869 to 1877. Grant has evoked countless quotes about patriotism, service, peace, and life in general throughout his term while serving the nation that still influence people till date. This article will talk about 50 such quotes by Ulysses S. Grant that will surely inspire you.
1. “In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.” -Ulysses S. Grant
2. “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can and keep moving on.” -Ulysses S. Grant
3. “I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.” -Ulysses S. Grant
4. “Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.” -Ulysses S. Grant
5. “I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.” -Ulysses S. Grant
6. “Wherever the enemy goes let our troops go also.” -Ulysses S. Grant
7. “But my later experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticized.” -Ulysses S. Grant
8. “I have made it a rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up, but I don’t see how I can ever trust any human being again.” -Ulysses S. Grant
9. “The distant rear of an army engaged in battle is not the best place to judge correctly what is going on in front.” -Ulysses S. Grant
10. “Let us have peace.” -Ulysses S. Grant
11. “There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword.” -Ulysses S. Grant
12. “Declare church and state forever separate and distinct, but each free within their proper spheres, and that all church property shall bear its own proportion of taxation.” -Ulysses S. Grant
13. “The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most.” -Ulysses S. Grant
14. “If you see the President, tell him from me that whatever happens there will be no turning back.” -Ulysses S. Grant
15. “There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.” -Ulysses S. Grant
16. “I know only two tunes: one of them is ‘Yankee Doodle’, and the other isn’t.” -Ulysses S. Grant
17. “Encourage free schools and resolve that not one dollar appropriated for their support shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian schools. Resolve that neither the state nor nation, nor both combined, shall support institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land of opportunity of good, common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistical dogmas.” -Ulysses S. Grant
18. “I believe… that if our country ever comes into trial again, young men will spring up equal to the occasion, and if one fails, there will be another to take his place.” -Ulysses S. Grant
19. “The great bulk of the legal voters of the South were men who owned no slaves; their homes were generally in the hills and poor country; their facilities for educating their children, even up to the point of reading and writing, were minimal; their interest in the contest was very meager—what there was if they had been capable of seeing it was with the North; they too needed emancipation.” -Ulysses S. Grant
20. “The theory of government changes with general progress.” -Ulysses S. Grant
21. “Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book, we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this, we must look as our guide in the future.” -Ulysses S. Grant
22. “I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.” -Ulysses S. Grant
23. “I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” -Ulysses S. Grant
24. “The distant rear of an army engaged in battle is not the best place to judge correctly what is going on in front.” -Ulysses S. Grant
25. “Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished.” -Ulysses S. Grant
26. “Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war.” -Ulysses S. Grant
27. “I would suggest the taxation of all property equally, whether church or corporation, exempting only the last resting place of the dead and possibly, with proper restrictions, church edifices.” -Ulysses S. Grant
28. “The free school is the promoter of that intelligence which is to preserve us as a free 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 and Dixon’s, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side—and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.” -Ulysses S. Grant
29. “I traveled through the Northwest considerably during the winter of 1860-61. We had customers in all the little towns in southwest Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa. These generally knew I had been a captain in the regular army and had served through the Mexican war. Consequently, wherever I stopped for the night, some of the people would come to the public house where I was, and sit till a late hour discussing the probabilities of the future.” -Ulysses S. Grant
30. “If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail.” -Ulysses S. Grant
31. “While a battle is raging one can see his enemy mowed down by the thousand, or the ten thousand, with great composure; but after the battle these scenes are distressing, and one is naturally disposed to do as much to alleviate the suffering of an enemy as a friend.” -Ulysses S. Grant
32. “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. The 4th infantry went into camp at Salubrity in the month of May 1844, with instructions, as I have said, to await further orders.” -Ulysses S. Grant
33. “Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.” -Ulysses S. Grant
34. “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 and Dixon’s but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other.” -Ulysses S. Grant
35. “The fact is, I think I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do, or to suffer. I signify all three.” -Ulysses S. Grant
36. “I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly.” -Ulysses S. Grant
37. “There was always news coming back to the quarter about someone who had been killed or sent to prison for killing someone else: Snowball, stabbed to death at a nightclub in Port Allen; Claude, killed by a woman in New Orleans; Smitty, sent to the state penitentiary at Angola for manslaughter. And there were others who did not go anywhere but simply died slower.” -Ulysses S. Grant
38. “Generally, the officers of the army were indifferent to 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
39. “Our great modern Republic. May those who seek the blessings of its institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations they impose.” -Ulysses S. Grant
40. “God gave us Lincoln and Liberty, let us fight for both.” -Ulysses S. Grant
41. “No theory of my own will ever stand in the way of my executing, in good faith, any order I may receive from those in authority over me.” -Ulysses S. Grant
42. “No other terms than unconditional and immediate surrender. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” -Ulysses S. Grant
43. “My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent.” -Ulysses S. Grant
44. “I appreciate the fact and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally.” -Ulysses S. Grant
45. “There are many men who would have done better than I did under the circumstances in which I found myself. If I had never held command, if I had fallen, there were 10,000 behind who would have followed the contest to the end and never surrendered the Union.” -Ulysses S. Grant
46. “It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training.” -Ulysses S. Grant
47. “Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.” -Ulysses S. Grant
48. “There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.” -Ulysses S. Grant
49. “Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.” -Ulysses S. Grant
50. “The will of the people is the best law.” -Ulysses S. Grant
