Ulysses S. Grant quotes - page 6

It is men who wait to be selected, and not those who seek, from whom we may expect the most efficient service. (Ulysses S. Grant)
The war has made us a nation of great power and intelligence. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I took no part myself in any such view of the case at the time, but since the war is over, reviewing the whole question, I have come to the conclusion that the saying is quite true. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I feel that we are on the eve of a new era, when there is to be great harmony. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I have given the subject of arming the negro my hearty support. This, with the emancipation of the negro, is the heavyest blow yet given the Confederacy. The South rave a greatdeel about it and profess to be very angry. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
It is a subject for congratulation that the great Empire of Brazil has taken the initiatory step toward the abolition of slavery. Our relations with that Empire, always cordial, will naturally be made more so by this act. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Slavery was an institution that required unusual guarantees for its security wherever it existed; and in a country like ours where the larger portion of it was free territory inhabited by an intelligent and well-to-do population, the people would naturally have but little sympathy with demands upon them for its protection. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
In this connection I advise such legislation as will forever preclude the enslavement of the Chinese upon our soil. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Treat the negro as a citizen and a voter, as he is and must remain, and soon parties will be divided, not on the color line, but on principle. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
The South claimed the sovereignty of States, but claimed the right to coerce into their confederation such States as they wanted, that is, all the States where slavery existed. They did not seem to think this course inconsistent. The fact is, the Southern slave-owners believed that, in some way, the ownership of slaves conferred a sort of patent of nobility-a right to govern independent of the interest or wishes of those who did not hold such property. They convinced themselves, first, of the divine origin of the institution and, next, that that particular institution was not safe in the hands of any body of legislators but themselves. (Ulysses S. Grant)
A measure which makes at once 4,000,000 people voters who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Suffrage once given can never be taken away, and all that remains for us now is to make good that gift by protecting those who have received it. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Where the citizen is sovereign and the official the servant, where no power is exercised except by the will of the people, it is important that the sovereign - the people - should possess intelligence. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Complaints are made of this interference by Federal authority; but if said amendment and act do not provide for such interference under the circumstances as above stated, then they are without meaning, force, or effect, and the whole scheme of colored enfranchisement is worse than mockery and little better than a crime. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
The framers of our Constitution firmly believed that a republican government could not endure without intelligence and education generally diffused among the people. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
The war was expensive to the South as well as to the North, both in blood and treasure, but it was worth all it cost. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
The war is over - the rebels are our countrymen again. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I have no prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
The present difficulty, in bringing all parts of the United States to a happy unity and love of country grows out of the prejudice to color. The prejudice is a senseless one, but it exists. (Ulysses S. Grant)
I repeat that the adoption of the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life. The change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations of Washington. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
Keep the church and the state forever separate. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I can assure you that these colored troops are regularly mustered into the service of the United States. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant
I suggest for your earnest consideration, and most earnestly recommend it, that a constitutional amendment be submitted to the legislatures of the several States for ratification, making it the duty of each of the several States to establish and forever maintain free public schools adequate to the education of all the children in the rudimentary branches within their respective limits, irrespective of sex, color, birthplace, or religions. View quote
Ulysses S. Grant