Ulysses S. Grant [Ulysses Simpson Grant] Quotations, Biography

1 I am a verb.

[subject: Action & Doing]

2 I known only two tunes: one is Yankee Doodle, and the other isn't.

[subject: Art: Music]

3 Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men disgrace labor.

[subject: Capitalism & Capital v. Labor]

4 We must cut our way out as we cut our way in.

[subject: Civil War, 1861 – 1865 .]

5 No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.

Grant's message popularized the phrase “unconditional surrender,” thanks partly to the coincidence of the initial letters with the first two initials of his own name. Buckner, commander of this Confederate fort on the Cumberland River, had asked to negotiate terms of surrender. Upon receiving this reply from Grant, he gave over the fort. This victory, along with the capture of Fort Henry across the river ten days earlier, marked a turning point in the war. “Unconditional Surrender” Grant had shown his mettle.

[subject: Civil War, 1861 – 1865 .]

6 I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.

Grant had been beaten back by Gen. Robert E. Lee's forces at the Spottsylvania Court House. In this dispatch to Gen. Henry Wager Halleck , Grant announced his intention to persevere. Lincoln echoed Grant's words in a speech on June 16 , saying, “We are going through on this line if it takes three more years.”

[subject: Civil War, 1861 – 1865 .]

7 Wherever the enemy goes, let our troops go also.

[subject: Civil War, 1861 – 1865 .]

8 The war is over—the rebels are our countrymen again.

Grant silencing his cheering troops after Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox.

[subject: Civil War, 1861 – 1865 .]

9 Let no guilty man escape.

Pres. Grant issued this order after learning the evidence concerning the malfeasance of the Whiskey Ring, a conspiracy of federal officials and distillers that cost the government millions of dollars in revenues.

[subject: Crime, Criminals, & Detectives]

10 He was a gallant soldier, and a Christian gentleman.

During the Wilderness Campaign, Grant chanced to stay overnight in the house where Jackson had died. Told of this, Grant uttered this impromptu epitaph, which would have pleased Jackson greatly.

[subject: Epitaphs & Gravestones]

11 It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a new view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards.

Grant's epiphany took place at the end of July 1861 , near Florida, Mo., when he was still a colonel. Leading his unit up a hill toward an encampment of rebels under General Thomas Harris , he admitted to being so afraid that he “lacked the moral courage” to call a halt and reconsider plans. Gaining the crest, however, he saw that the enemy camp was deserted. One of the Missourians who fled at Grant's approach was his future publisher and also an author of some note, Mark Twain. In The Private History of a Campaign That Failed ( 1885 ), Twain wrote, “In time I came to know that Union colonel whose coming frightened me out of the war and crippled the Southern cause to that extent—General Grant. I came within a few hours of seeing him when he was as unknown as I was myself; at a time when anybody could have said, ‘Grant?—Ulysses S. Grant? I do not remember hearing the name before.’ It seems difficult to realize that there was once a time when such a remark could be rationally made but there was, and I was within a few miles of the place and the occasion, too, though proceeding in the other direction.”

[subject: Fear]

12 The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike at him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.

[subject: Military Strategy]

13 Let us have peace.

[subject: Peace]

14 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.

[subject: Religion]

15 Labor disgraces no man.

[subject: Work & Workers]