“I suffer the mortification of seeing myself attacked right and left by people at home professing patriotism and love of country who never heard the whistle of a hostile bullet. I pity them and the nation dependent on such for its existence. I am thankful, however, that though such people make a great noise the masses are not like them.”
Letter to his sister Mary (15 December 1862) https://books.google.com/books?id=mUjQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA505
1860s
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Ulysses S. Grant 177
18th President of the United States 1822–1885Related quotes

Speech, "Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country" http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=535, Syracuse, New York (September 24, 1847)
1840s, Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country (1847)
Interview in The Observer http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2067715,00.html 29 April 2007

“I am thankful to all those who said no. It's because of them, I did it myself.”
Source: You'll See It When You Believe It: The Way to Your Personal Transformation

In the House of Commons (18 April 1947), cited in The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations (1996), Jay, Oxford University Press, p. 93.
Post-war years (1945–1955)

Misattributed to Lincoln by several authors since about 2000. Source of quote: General Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, "Like Abraham Lincoln, I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts" (John Gunther, The Riddle of MacArthur, New York: Harper, 1950, p. 61). By the 1970s, the phrase is quoted in several places without the words "Like Abraham Lincoln," and attributed directly to Lincoln. The additional phrase "and beer" first appears in a list of jokes published online in 1999.
Misattributed

Oriana Fallaci. Interview with Indira Gandhi in New Delhi, February 1972