QUOTATIONS

A

"That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression." -- Alabama, Declaration of Rights Article I Section 35

"A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it." -- Porter Alexander

"Far better would it be for the Atlantic Ocean with one swell surge to rise up and sweep us and all we have into the Pacific than for the infernal hell-hounds who wage this wicked war on us to triumph. Let any cruelties, any torments, any death that earth can inflict, come upon us in preference to the triumph of the Yankees!" —Atlanta Confederacy, editorial, March 20, 1862

B

"There stands Jackson like a stone wall!" -- General Bernard Bee

C

"Charge 'em like hell, boys: show 'em you are damned Yankees." -- Colonel E. E. Cross

D

"I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came." -- Jefferson Davis

"Never be haughty to the humble or humble to the haughty." -- Jefferson Davis

"Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule." -- Jefferson Davis

E

"I fear that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots." -- Albert Einstein

F

"At the outbreak of the war it was found very difficult to raise infantry in Texas, as no Texan walks a yard if he can help it. Many mounted regiments were therefore organized, and afterwards dismounted." -- Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle

G

"Mars is not an aesthetic God." -- John Brown Gordon

"In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins." -- General Ulysses S. Grant

H

"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded -- here and there, now and then -- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as 'bad luck.'" -- Robert A. Heinlein

"Laws to suppress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit. This is the fine point on which all legal professions of history have based their job security." -- Frank Herbert

"I can truthfully say that in that moment, I gave my life up. I do not expect ever again to face death more certainly than I thought I did then...I said to myself, "This is duty. I'll trust in God and do it. If I fall, I cannot die better." ...The nervous strain was simply awful. It can be appreciated only by those who have experienced it. The atmosphere seemed surcharged with the most startling and frightful things. Death, wounds, and appalling destruction everywhere." -- Lt. Frederick L. Hitchcock

I

"Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together." -- Eugene Ionesco

J

"The patriot, like the Christian, must learn to bear revilings and persecutions as a part of his duty; and in proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command. But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for its exercise are repeated." -- Thomas Jefferson

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." -- Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." -- Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -- Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." -- Thomas Jefferson

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance." -- Paul Johnson

"No one but McClellan could have hesitated to attack." -- General Joseph E. Johnston

"I know Mr. Davis thinks he can do a great many things other men would hesitate to attempt. For instance, he tried to do what God failed to do. He tried to make a soldier of Braxton Bragg..." -- General Joseph E. Johnston

K

L

"It Is history that teaches us to hope." -- Robert E. Lee

"Duty is the most sublime 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 will hold McClellan's horse if he will only bring us success." -- Abraham Lincoln

"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it." -- General Lee to General Longstreet

"Does not your plan involve a larger expenditure of time and money than mine? Wherein is a victory more certain by your plan than mine? Wherein is a victory more valuable by your plan than mine? In fact, would it not be less valuable in this, that it would break no great line of the enemy's communication, while mine would? In case of disaster, would it not be more difficult to retreat by your plan than mine?" -- Abraham Lincoln

M

"No man is fit to command in the camp or in the field who does not constantly recognize the great principles of humanity." -- Rev. James J. Marks

"Soldiers of the Army of the Potomac! For a long time I have kept you inactive, but not without a purpose; you were to be disciplined, armed and instructed; the formidable artillery you now have, had to be created; other armies were to move and accomplish certain results. I have held you back that you might give the death-blow to the rebellion that has distracted our once happy country. The patience you have shown, and your confidence in your General, are worth a dozen victories." -- Major General George B. McClellan

"Only three men in the Confederate army knew what I was doing or intended to do; they were Lee and Stuart and myself." -- John S. Mosby