John Sherman Quotes

I would no more admit the rebels to control these States than I would sail a ship with the mutinous part of a crew, and confine those who were faithful to the captain in the hold or put them in irons.

Unless one is inordinately fond of subordination, one is always at war.

Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.

Agitated by revolutionary movements, these grow in proportion to the force that resists them.

Authority is never without hate.

This is where the rebellion was begun, and by God, this is where it will end.

Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority!

What has commonly been called rebellion has more often been nothing but a glorious struggle in opposition to the lawless power of rebellious kings and princes

Power never takes a back step—only in the face of more power.

Power abdicates only under stress of counter-power.

I have only to raise a finger and the whole face of Europe is changed.

Slavery is the cause of treason and sustains it everywhere it exists.

No choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government; and so to resist force, employed for its destruction, by force, for its preservation.

I. George Washington, President of the United States, do hereby command all persons, being insurgents, as aforesaid, and all others whom it may concern, on or before the 1st day of September next to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes. And I do moreover warn all persons whomsoever against aiding, abetting, or comforting the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable acts; and do require all officers and other citizens, according to their respective duties and the laws of the land, to exert their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such dangerous proceedings

It must not be forgotten that the people of these States, without justification or excuse, rose in insurrection against the United States. They deliberately abolished their State governments so far as the same connected them politically with the Union.... They opened hostilities and levied war against the government. They continued this war for four years with the most determined and malignant spirit.... Whether legally and constitutionally or not, they did, in fact, withdraw from the Union and made themselves subjects of another government of their own creation. And they only yielded when they were compelled by utter exhaustion to lay down their arms ... expressing no regret, except that they had no longer the power to continue the desperate struggle The war thus waged was a civil war of the greatest magnitude. The people waging it were necessarily subject to all the rule which, by the law of nations, control a contest of that character, and to all the legitimate consequences following it. One of those consequences was that, within the limits prescribed by humanity, the conquered rebels were at the mercy of the conquerors. That a government thus outraged had a most perfect right to exact indemnity for the injuries done, and security against the recurrence of such outrages in the future, would seem too clear for dispute

Peaceful surrender of power by the bourgeoisie is possible, if it is convinced that resistance is hopeless and if it prefers to save its skin. It is much more likely, of course, that even in small states socialism will not be achieved without civil war, and for that reason the only program of international Social-Democracy must be recognition of civil war, though violence is, of course, alien to our ideals.

Sovereignty is not given, it is taken.

Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him.

If you will not have it thus: if in the pride of power, if in contempt of reason and reliance upon force, you say we shall not go, but shall remain as subjects to you, then, gentlemen of the North, a war is to be inaugurated the like of which men have not seen.

War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.

Power, however it has evolved, whatever its origins, will not be given up without a struggle.

Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomen. To the same degree that I do not understand power, I do understand those who oppose power, who criticize power, who contest power, especially those who rebel against power imposed by brutality.

We continue to resist the occupier militarily, culturally and by all means of the resistance.

He who is reluctant to recognize me opposes me.

Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.