Top 100 Best civil war quotes

Here are some of the most impactful and memorable quotes from the American Civil War era:

Quotes by Leaders and Prominent Figures:

1. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln
2. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.” – Abraham Lincoln
3. “The war must go on. We must fight it through.” – Ulysses S. Grant
4. “War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.” – William Tecumseh Sherman
5. “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” – Abraham Lincoln
6. “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” – Abraham Lincoln
7. “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.” – Ulysses S. Grant
8. “You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing!” – William Tecumseh Sherman
9. “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” – Robert E. Lee
10. “We cannot escape history.” – Abraham Lincoln

Inspirational and Reflective Quotes:

11. “I have never advocated war except as a means of peace.” – Ulysses S. Grant
12. “I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.” – William Tecumseh Sherman
13. “I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.” – Abraham Lincoln
14. “I can make this march, and I will make Georgia howl!” – William Tecumseh Sherman
15. “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” – Abraham Lincoln
16. “I am in earnest. I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard.” – William Lloyd Garrison
17. “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
18. “Stand firm, you boys from Maine! For not once in a century are men permitted to bear such responsibilities!” – Joshua Chamberlain
19. “The Civil War is not ended: I question whether any serious civil war ever does end.” – T.S. Eliot
20. “Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the North American Union.” – John Quincy Adams

Quotes on the Horrors of War:

21. “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” – William Tecumseh Sherman
22. “What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world.” – Robert E. Lee
23. “Every soldier’s heart, like the ocean, is a vast abyss.” – Robert E. Lee
24. “In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.” – Ulysses S. Grant
25. “It is something that cannot be understood. War is a crime.” – Clara Barton
26. “You may be whatever you resolve to be.” – Stonewall Jackson
27. “We were prepared to lose some of us, but we were not prepared to lose all of us.” – Jefferson Davis
28. “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” – Robert E. Lee
29. “I have seen enough of one war never to wish to see another.” – Thomas Jefferson
30. “I have never been able to make up my mind why women want to go into politics. Why would they want to lose the only things that set them apart from men — their femininity and their mystery?” – William Tecumseh Sherman

Quotes about the Cause and Consequences:

31. “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln
32. “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” – Abraham Lincoln
33. “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” – Abraham Lincoln
34. “To be born free is an accident. To live free is a privilege. To die free is a responsibility.” – Brigadier General James Sehorn
35. “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry
36. “The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one, or even one hundred defeats.” – Abraham Lincoln
37. “The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.” – Samuel Adams
38. “A man who does not love this cause does not deserve to be free.” – Abraham Lincoln
39. “The people of the South will fight to the last man rather than submit.” – Jefferson Davis
40. “In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.” – Abraham Lincoln

Quotes from Soldiers and Common People:

41. “It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.” – Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
42. “It is not well to fight the passions of men; they go mad sometimes.” – Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
43. “Every man should be a patriot but not a lunatic.” – Abraham Lincoln
44. “A soldier’s most powerful weapon is courage.” – Unknown
45. “The Civil War is ended, but the questions of race, equality, and justice remain.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
46. “I would rather die than betray my country.” – Nathan Hale
47. “They never fail who die in a great cause.” – Lord Byron
48. “If we must die, we die defending our rights.” – T.J. Jackson
49. “Men go to war in search of peace.” – Unknown
50. “All we ask is to be let alone.” – Jefferson Davis

Quotes Reflecting on the Legacy:

51. “The Civil War was not fought for the right to live in freedom, but for the right to own slaves.” – Eric Foner
52. “Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
53. “The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things. It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.” – Shelby Foote
54. “We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more.” – James Sloan Gibbons
55. “I can make more generals, but horses cost money.” – Abraham Lincoln
56. “The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.” – Omar Bradley
57. “The victor belongs to the spoils.” – William Learned Marcy
58. “One war ends; another begins.” – Proverb
59. “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
60. “War does not determine who is right, only who is left.” – Bertrand Russell

Quotes on the Human Spirit:

61. “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.” – Abraham Lincoln
62. “The world is full of men who would be soldiers, but the world is full of men who would be free.” – Samuel Adams
63. “It is for us the living to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us.” – Abraham Lincoln
64. “The sword is the last argument of kings.” – Latin Proverb
65. “A true man does not only stand up for himself, he stands up for those that do not have the ability to.” – William Lyon Mackenzie King
66. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
67. “Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life.” – Mahatma Gandhi
68. “A nation that forgets its past has no future.” – Winston Churchill
69. “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln
70. “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” – Malcolm X

Quotes on Unity and Reconciliation:

71. **”We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”** – Abraham Lincoln
72. “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
73. “The Civil War is over, but the civil rights battle continues.” – Jesse Jackson
74. “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” – Abraham Lincoln
75. “The past is not dead; it’s not even past.” – William Faulkner
76. “It is time to heal the wounds that divide us.” – Abraham Lincoln
77. “The people of the United States will rally again to the cause of their country.” – Jefferson Davis
78. “I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.” – Abraham Lincoln
79. “Let us have peace.” – Ulysses S. Grant
80. “The Union is much older than the Constitution.” – Abraham Lincoln

Miscellaneous Quotes:

81. “There is nothing so American as our national parks.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
82. “I can no longer remain silent in the face of such injustice.” – Frederick Douglass
83. “It is not what a man does that exalts him, but what he would do.” – Robert E. Lee
84. “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
85. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
86. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
87. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
88. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain
89. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
90. “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” – John F. Kennedy

Quotes on Sacrifice:

91. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” – Thomas Jefferson
92. “The blood of heroes is the seed of freedom’s tree.” – Thomas Campbell
93. “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
94. “The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.” – Gen. John J. Pershing
95. “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton
96. “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” – Ronald Reagan
97. “The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers.” – Gen. George S. Patton
98. “Liberty must at all hazards be supported.” – John Adams
99. “The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.” – Gen. John J. Pershing
100. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13

These quotes capture the essence of the American Civil War, reflecting the deep divisions, the immense sacrifice, and the enduring hope for unity and peace.