Quote

An army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every enactment, every change of rule which impairs this principle weakens the army, impairs its value, and defeats the very object of its existence.

William Tecumseh Sherman

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William Tecumseh Sherman
Age: 71 †
Born: 1820
Born: February 8
Died: 1891
Died: February 14
Banker
Lawyer
Military Officer
U.S. General
William T. Sherman
General Sherman
Military
Obey
Principles
Collection
Existence
Collections
Impairs
Change
Principle
Enactment
Every
Object
Weakens
Men
Army
Defeats
Rule
Armed
Value
Obliged

More quotes by William Tecumseh Sherman

Image
I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
Though I never ordered it, and never wished for it, I have never shed any tears over the event, because I believe that it hastened what we all fought for, the end of the war.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
I think I understand what military fame is to be killed on the field of battle and have your name misspelled in the newspapers.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
Wars are not all evil, they are part of the grand machinery by which this world is governed.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
The only good Indian is a dead Indian
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women and children... during an assault, the soldiers cannot pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
The young bloods of the South: sons of planters, lawyers about towns, good billiard-players and sportsmen, men who never did any work and never will... They are splendid riders, first-rate shots and utterly reckless. These men must all be killed or employed by us before we can hope for peace.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell. You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon war with horror.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
I see every chance of a long, confused and disorganizing civil war, and I feel no desire to take a hand therein.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
You people speak so lightly of war you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing!
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
If nominated, I won't run If elected, I won't serve.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Image
I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.
William Tecumseh Sherman