Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Source: 1860s, Interview with Alexander W. Randall and Joseph T. Mills (1864)
“I have no doubt in the world that the sole object is the restoration of the Union. I will say further, though, that I am a Democrat--every man in my regiment is a Democrat--and whenever I shall be convinced that this war has for its object anything else that what I have mentioned or that the Government designs using its soldiers to execute the purposes of the abolitionists, I pledge you on my honor as a man and a soldier that I will not only resign my commission, but will carry my sword to the other side.”
Original quote from The Democratic Speaker's Hand-Book (1868), by Matthew Carey, p. 33. Often paraphrased as "If I thought this war was to abolish slavery, I would resign my commission and offer my sword to the other side".
Misattributed
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18th President of the United States 1822–1885Related quotes
Alfred von Waldersee (1832–1904) Prussian Field Marshal
Waldersee, quoted in the Le Petit Parisien newspaper, c. 1888
David Gemmell book The King Beyond the Gate
Source: Drenai series, The King Beyond the Gate, Ch. 12
Context: I never worshipped anything but my sword and my wits; now I suffer for it. But I can take it, for am I not a man?... It is not hard to be a legend, Tenaka. It is what follows when you have to live like one.
Seishirō Itagaki (1885–1948) Japanese general
Quoted in "The Fight for the Pacific" - Page 157 - by Mark Gayn - 1941.
James Longstreet (1821–1904) Confederate Army general
As quoted in General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier: A Biography https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0671709216 (1993), by Jeffry D. Wert, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 283
Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–1798) Irish politician
Letter to Thomas Addis Emmet, William James MacNaven, Arthur O'Connor and John Sweetman (10 November 1798), quoted in T. W. Moody, R. B. McDowell and C. J. Woods (eds.), The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1763–98, Volume III: France, the Rhine, Lough Swilly and Death of Tone, January 1797 to November 1798 (2007), p. 402
Walter Model (1891–1945) German field marshal
To Colonel Theodor Pilling, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Michael, Major Winrich Behr in the evening of April 20, 1945. They tuned in the Wehrmacht receiver, and listened Joseph Goebbels's speech marking the Hitler's Birthday. Quoted in "Battle for the Ruhr" - Page 378 - by Derek S. Zumbro - 2006
William Wallace (1270–1305) Scottish landowner and leader in the Wars for Scottish Independence
Statement at his trial, rejecting the assertion he was a traitor to Edward I of England (23 August 1305), as quoted in Lives of Scottish Worthies (1831) by Patrick Fraser Tytler, p. 279
Variant: I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.
Context: I can not be a traitor, for I owe him no allegiance. He is not my Sovereign; he never received my homage; and whilst life is in this persecuted body, he never shall receive it. To the other points whereof I am accused, I freely confess them all. As Governor of my country I have been an enemy to its enemies; I have slain the English; I have mortally opposed the English King; I have stormed and taken the towns and castles which he unjustly claimed as his own. If I or my soldiers have plundered or done injury to the houses or ministers of religion, I repent me of my sin; but it is not of Edward of England I shall ask pardon.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte book The Vocation of Man
Jane Sinnett, trans 1846 p. 50
The Vocation of Man (1800), Knowledge
John Tyler (1790–1862) American politician, 10th President of the United States (in office from 1841 to 1845)
Cabinet meeting (1841), as retold by John Alexander Tyler.