“My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them or indisposed me to serve them”

Letter to Lieutenant Colonel Charles Marshall (September 1870)
1870s
Context: My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them or indisposed me to serve them; nor in spite of failures, which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge; or of the present aspect of affairs; do I despair of the future.
The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them or indisposed me to serve them" by Robert E. Lee?
Robert E. Lee photo
Robert E. Lee 55
Confederate general in the Civil War 1807–1870

Related quotes

Samuel Butler photo

“When I am dead I would rather people thought me better than I was instead of worse; but if they think me worse, I cannot help it and, if it matters at all, it will matter more to them than to me.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

Apologia, i
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XXIV - The Life of the World to Come

Walt Whitman photo
Algernon Charles Swinburne photo
Scott Clifton photo

“I know that YouTube has made me smarter just by having to think about my views and how to defend them.”

Scott Clifton (1984) American television actor, musician, internet personality.

The Scott Clifton Interview – The Bold and the Beautiful, as quoted by Michael Fairman, hosted on Michaelfairmansoaps.com (20 September 2010) http://michaelfairmansoaps.com/the-bold-and-the-beautiful/the-scott-clifton-interview-the-bold-and-the-beautiful/2010/09/20/

Jim Butcher photo
TY Bello photo
Peter L. Berger photo
Chief Joseph photo
Ursula K. Le Guin photo

“But you knew them to be evil men—”
“Was I to join them therefore? To let their acts rule my own? I will not make their choices for them, nor will I let them make mine for me!”

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) American writer

Source: Earthsea Books, The Farthest Shore (1972), Chapter 4, "Magelight" (Arren and Ged)

J. Howard Moore photo

Related topics