Top 100 Robert E. Lee Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 2 of 3

51. “What a glorious world Almighty God has given us. How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor to mar his gifts.”

— Robert E. Lee

52. “I think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing, than to incur the reproach of our consciences and posterity.”

— Robert E. Lee

53. “No day should be lived unless it was begun with a prayer of thankfulness and an intercession for guidance.”

— Robert E. Lee

54. “Ideas are easy to conceive, less easy to execute.”

— Robert E. Lee

55. “There is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant and I would rather die a thousand deaths.”

— Robert E. Lee

56. “He has lost his left arm, but I my right.”

— Robert E. Lee

57. “Alabama soldiers, all I ask of you is to keep up with the Texans!”

— Robert E. Lee

58. “Without music, we wouldn’t have an Army.”

— Robert E. Lee

59. “We must forgive our enemies. I can truly say that not a day has passed since the war began that I have not prayed for them.”

— Robert E. Lee

60. “I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings. And have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.”

— Robert E. Lee

61. “A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.”

— Robert E. Lee

62. “We failed, but in the good providence of God apparent failure often proves a blessing.”

— Robert E. Lee

63. “Read history, works of truth, not novels and romances.”

— Robert E. Lee

64. “The time is not come for impartial history. If the truth were told just now, it would not be credited.”

— Robert E. Lee

65. “A Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me.”

— Robert E. Lee

66. “It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.”

— Robert E. Lee

67. “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

68. “I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving.”

— Robert E. Lee

69. “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

70. “I endeavored to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all his mercies to me, for his preservation of me through all the dangers I have passed, and all the blessings which he has bestowed upon me, for I know I fall far short of my obligations.”

— Robert E. Lee

71. “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

72. “With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relative, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army...”

— Robert E. Lee

73. “The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.”

— Robert E. Lee

74. “I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony.”

— Robert E. Lee

75. “I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than the dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation.”

— Robert E. Lee

76. “Go home all you boys who fought with me and help build up the shattered fortunes of our old state.”

— Robert E. Lee

77. “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

78. “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

79. “Let us go home and cultivate our virtues.”

— Robert E. Lee

80. “Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans!”

— Robert E. Lee

81. “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

82. “The devil’s name is dullness.”

— Robert E. Lee

83. “But what a cruel thing is war to separate and destroy families and friends.”

— Robert E. Lee

84. “Act with a determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past and fears of the future.”

— Robert E. Lee

85. “We must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies, and to prevent our falling into greater disasters.”

— Robert E. Lee

86. “I will attack no matter what and win the war!”

— Robert E. Lee

87. “You see what a poor sinner I am, and how unworthy to possess what was given me; for that reason it has been taken away.”

— Robert E. Lee

88. “The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.”

— Robert E. Lee

89. “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

90. “We must look to the rising generation for the restoration of the country.”

— Robert E. Lee

91. “We have fought this fight as long, and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.”

— Robert E. Lee

92. “My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.”

— Robert E. Lee

93. “You have only always to do what is right. It will become easier by practice, and you enjoy in the midst of your trials the pleasure of an approving conscience.”

— Robert E. Lee

94. “Duty is the sublimest work in the English language.”

— Robert E. Lee

95. “We must enlist our own snake and strike like a cobra against their vitals with an attack on Washington.”

— Robert E. Lee

96. “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

97. “I am as willing to serve now as in the beginning in any capacity and at any post where I can do good. The lower the position, the more suitable to my ability and the more agreeable to my feelings.”

— Robert E. Lee

98. “Show me a shouter, and I’ll show you an also-ran. A might-have-been, an almost-was.”

— Robert E. Lee

99. “There is always hazard in military activity, but we must decide between the positive loss of inactivity and the risk of action.”

— Robert E. Lee

100. “Lee assess a subordinate commander as “all lion; no fox.”

— Robert E. Lee