David Dixon Porter: Quotes about thinking

David Dixon Porter was United States Navy admiral. Explore interesting quotes on thinking.

David Dixon Porter: 90 quotes0 likes

“Good wine needs no bush' is an old and good saying, and I think that the navy had very little cause to exculpate itself on any occasion when it co-operated with the army, and never entertained a difference of opinion when it came in contact with regular officers.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), pp. 214

“Lincoln had a wonderful faculty for understanding the topography of a country, and he was quite familiar with the one in which the army was about to operate; he carried a small chart in his pocket, on which were marked all the rivers and hills about Richmond, with the city itself, and the different points where General Lee had his forces posted, the lines of defense, and, in fact, all the information that a general of an army wanted. During our rides which were always within the lines he would stop and spread out his chart on his knees and point out to me what he would do if he were the general commanding, taking good care, at the same time, never to interfere in any way with General Grant, whom, I rather think, he considered the better strategist of the two.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), p. 282

“Regulations of the Navy provide that medical officers shall exercise no military authority. If I give you a flag, the line officers will think I have gone crazy.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), pp. 202– 203

“I now realized the imprudence of landing without a large body of marines; and yet this seemed to me, after all, the fittest way for Mr. Lincoln to come among the people he had redeemed from bondage. What an ovation he had, to be sure, from those so-called ignorant beings! They all had their souls in their eyes, and I don't think I ever looked upon a scene where there were so many passionately happy faces.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), p. 297

“I do think if I had given him two fence-rails to sleep on he would not have found fault. That was Abraham Lincoln in all things relating to his own comfort. He would never permit people to put themselves out for him under any circumstances.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), p. 285

“In the strife between the North and the South there was no bitterness in Mr. Lincoln's composition; he seemed to think only that he had an unpleasant duty to perform, and endeavored to perform it as smoothly as possible.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), p. 283

“It looked queer to me to see boxes labeled 'His Excellency, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America'. The packages so labeled contained Bass ale or Cognac brandy, which cost 'His Excellency' less than we Yankees had to pay for it. Think of the President drinking imported liquors while his soldiers were living on pop-corn and water!”

David Dixon Porter

David D. Porter, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War https://ia802604.us.archive.org/9/items/incidentsanecdot00port/incidentsanecdot00port.pdf (1885), p. 274. <br class="br">1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885)

“I think every man should be obliged to take that oath, for I have seen more treason in the last ten days than I ever supposed could exist in the United States Navy.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), pp. 34– 35

“There,' I said to a friend, 'lies the best man I ever knew or ever expect to know; he was just to all men, and his heart was full to overflowing with kindness toward those who accomplished his death.' I have been satisfied that the persons who called at the Malvern were some of the assassins who would have killed him there if they could have got on board, and they could easily have escaped in the confusion by jumping overboard and swimming to the shore, which was not more than twenty yards distant. More-over, I do not think that the prime instigator of the deed was ever suspected, though I have my own opinion on the subject, as also had Senator Nye, that stanch old patriot who held, in the latter part of the war, a position somewhat analogous to that of a minister of police, or was in consultation, by the wish of President Lincoln, with the police authorities of our great cities. He picked up many interesting incidents in relation to the President's assassination which he talked about freely to me; but he was a prudent man, and a politician, and did not desire to raise questions which might affect his personal interests in the future.”

David Dixon Porter

Source: 1880s, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885), pp. 319–320