"Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace"--Speech in London.

"I never liked service in the army. I did not wish to go to West Point. My father had use his authority to make me go. I never went into a battle willingly or with enthusiasm. I never want to command another army. It was only after Donelson that I began to see how important was the work tht Providence devolved upon me. I did not want to be made lieutenant-general. I did not want the presidency, and have never quite forgiven myself for resigning the command of the army to accept it."--In a conversation.

"It has been my misfortune to be engaged in more battles than any other general on the other side of the Atlantic; but there was never a time during my command when I would not have chosen some settlement by reason rather than the sword."--In a conversation.

"The one thing I never want to see again is a military parade. When I resigned from the army and went to a farm I was happy. When the rebellion came, I returned to the service because it was a duty. I had no thought of rank; all I did was try and make myself useful."--In a conversation with the Duke of Cambridge.

"I don't believe in strategy in the popular understanding of the term. I use it to get up just as close to the enemy as practicable, with as little loss of life as possible. Then, up guards, and at 'em."--In a conversation.

"I never held a council of war in my life. I heard what men had to say--the stream of talk at headquareters,--but I made up my own mind, and from my written orders my staff got their first knowledge of what was to be done. No living man knew of plans until they matured and decided."--In a conversation.

"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."

"It is probably well that we had the war when we did. We are better off now than we would have been without it, and have made more rapid progress than we otherwise should have made. Now our republic has shown itself capable of dealing with one of the greatest wars ever made, and our people have proven themselves to be the most formidable in war of any nationality. But this war was a fearful lesson and *should teach us the necessity of avoiding wars in the future.*"

"Let us have peace."--From a letter in which he accepted the nomination for the presidency.

"The enemy hold our front in very strong force, and evince a strong determination to interpose between us and Richond to the last. *I shall take no backward steps.*"--Note to Halleck from the Wilderness

"There is no great sport in having bullets flying about one in every direction, but I find they have less horror when among them than when in anticipation."

"As we approached the brow of the hill from which it was expected we could see Harris' camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to mee us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat ... [until I reached] the place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. The lesson was valuable."--Thoughts on his move against Confederate Colonel Thomas Harris early in the War.

"I never had time."--To an officer asking if he ever felt fear on the battlefield.

"I see from the papers that my name has been sent in for Brigadier General. This is certainly very complimentary to me particularly as I have never asked a friend to intercede in my behalf. Hearing that I was likely to be promoted, the officers, with great unanimity have requested to be attached to my command. This I *don't* want you to read to others for I very much dislike speaking of myself."--Letter to his father, August 3, 1861.

"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."

"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."--Letter from London to G.W. Childs, June, 1877.

"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 thought that was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse."--His thoughts on Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

"I would not distress these people. They are feeling their defeat bitterly, and you would not add to it by my witnessing their despair, would you?"--To his wife, when she asked if he would make an appearance in Richmond.

"The people who had been in rebellion must necessarily come back into the Union, and be incorporated as an integral part of the nation. Naturally the nearer they were placed to equality with the people who had rebelled, the more reconciled they would feel with their old antagonists, and the better citizens they would be from the beginning. They surely would not make good citizens if they felt that they had a yoke around their necks."

"The war is over; the Rebels are our countrymen again."--Telling his troops to stop firing their weapons in victory celebrations at Appomattox.

"Ah, you know my weaknesses--my children and my horses."--to Horace Porter.

"Look after our dear children and direct them in the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more to hear that one of them could depart from an honorable, upright and virtuous life than it would to know that they prostrated on a bed of sickness from which they were never to rise alive. They have never given us any cause for alarm on this account, and I trust they never will. With these few injunctions and the knowledge I have of your love and affection and the dutiful affection of all our children, I bid you a final farewell, until we meet in another and, I trust, better world. You will find this on my person after my demise."--Note to his wife.

"I never learned to swear ... I could never see the use of swearing ... I have always noticed ... that swearing helps to rouse a man's anger."

"I am not aware of ever having used a profane expletive in life; but I would have the charity to excuse those who may have done so, if they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack mules."

"GEN: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, or their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside."--April 9, 1865.

"I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, withint the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent."--At the end of his second term.

"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."--Bearing his discomfort stoically at Mt. McGregor shortly before his death.