Revolutionary War Quotes

“I resume my pen, in reply to the curious epistle, you have been pleased to favour me with; and can assure you, that, notwithstanding, I am naturally of a grave and phlegmatic disposition, it has been the source of abundant merriment to me. The spirit that breathes throughout is so rancorous, illiberal and imperious: The argumentative part of it so puerile and fallacious: The misrepresentations of facts so palpable and flagrant: The criticisms so illiterate, trifling and absurd: The conceits so low, sterile and splenetic, that I will venture to pronounce it one of the most ludicrous performances, which has been exhibited to public view, during all the present controversy.”
― Alexander Hamilton, The Works of Alexander Hamilton: The Federalist, The Continentalist, A Full Vindication, The Adams Controversy, The Jefferson Controversy, Military Papers ...

“Who have we here? some amateur in fights! an inquisitive, wonder- seeking non-combatant, who has volunteered to serve his king, and perhaps draw a picture, or write a book, to serve himself! Pray, sir, in what capacity did you serve in this vessel?”
― James Fenimore Cooper, The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea

“This is the war where we change. This is the trickster war. It's where we disappear, just like they desire us disappear. I spoke it you before: They wish us blank," he said, gesturing without thinking at Dr. Trefusis, who was the nearest exemplar of the white race. "They want us with no history and no memory. They want us empty as paper so they can write on us, so we ain't nothing but a price and an owner's name and a list of tasks. And that's what we'll give them. We'll give them your Nothing. We'll give them my William Williams and Henry Henry. We'll slip through and we'll change to who we must needs be and I will be all sly and have my delightful picaresque japes. But at the end of it, when it's over, I shall be one thing. I shall be one man, fixed, and not have to take no other name. I shall be one person steadily for some years."
"This is why we got to win...If we ever wish to be one person, we got to win.”
― M.T. Anderson, The Kingdom on the Waves

“Fiddlesticks!” Rall replied. “These clodhoppers will not attack us, and should they do so, we will simply fall on them and rout them.”58 (on describing that they had nothing to fear from the COlonists of New Jersey before the night of December 25, 1776; when Washington and his men crossed the Deleware.)”
― David Hackett Fischer

“What he learned from his favorite teacher was not obedience to authority but delight in the exercise of his mind.”
― Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian

“The British Army and Navy sang a rousing song called "Heart of Oak"; the rebels had writ one to counter it called "The Liberty Song." Both songs blustered of freedom; but both were sung to the same tune.
And we, to avoid offense, played the tune without words.”
― M.T. Anderson, The Kingdom on the Waves

“I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation, the last arguments to which kings resort.”
― Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death

“That's one reason why a civil war is worse than any other sort. When two parties in a given country resort to arms to settle political differences, every man is a potential enemy to every other man, and the distinction between legalized killing and murder is not clearly drawn in the minds of average men, who are incapable of sustained thought. Death is held to be a fitting reward for those who dare hold contrary views, and a nation involved in a civil war is a breeding ground for children reared to look with tolerance on next to nothing but violence.”
― Kenneth Roberts, Oliver Wiswell

“The British were unhinged by the colonists' unorthodox fighting style and shocking failure to abide by gentlemanly rules of engagement. One scandalized British soldier complained that the American riflemen 'conceal themselves behind trees etc. till an opportunity presents itself of taking a shot at our advance sentries, which done, they immediately retreat. What an unfair method of carrying on a war!”
― Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton

“...the so much boasted constitution of England...is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and incapable of producing what it seems to promise...”
― Thomas Paine

“I feel in good spirits, though surrounded by an Army, the house full of officers, the yard alive with soldiers, - very peaceable sort of men, tho'. They eat like other folks, talk like them, and behave themselves with elegance; so I will not be afraid of them, that I won't.”
― Sally Wister, Sally Wister's Journal: A True Narrative Being A Quaker Maiden's Account Of Her Experiences With Officers Of The Continental Army, 1777-1778

“They were not, I am certain almost, first-rate gentlemen. (How different from our other officers.) But they are gone to Virginia, where they may sing, dance, and eat turkey hash and fry'd hominy all day long, if they choose.”
― Sally Wister, Sally Wister's Journal: A True Narrative Being A Quaker Maiden's Account Of Her Experiences With Officers Of The Continental Army, 1777-1778

“Laurens, Lafayette, and Hamilton--all roughly the same age-- had become inseparable when they discovered they shared the conviction that all men should be free, including blacks.”
― Elizabeth Cobbs, The Hamilton Affair

“Let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the Universe…. Let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of Him who raises up and puts down the empires and kingdoms of the earth as He pleases.”
― John Hancock

“[During World War I] General Pershing, commander in chief of our expeditionary forces, on arriving in France, officially visited Lafayette's grave, laid a wreath on it, and said, "Lafayette, we are here." By this, he meant that the Americans were eager to repay to France their debt of gratitude for what Lafayette had done for them during the Revolutionary War.”
― Hélène A. Guerber, The Story of the Americans

“And so, Woodhull single-mindedly devoted himself to destroying the British, their allies, and all that they stood for by spying the daylights out of them.”
― Alexander Rose, Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring

“And therefore I ordered him to be instantly hanged.”
― Alexander Rose, Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring

“On a number of occasions, Tamara joined “Che” on his sorties into the Bolivian highlands, without incident. However, on March 24, 1967, a guerrilla fighter who had been captured by the Bolivian army betrayed her by giving away Tamara’s location. Although she escaped, the Bolivian soldiers found an address book in her Jeep and came after her in hot pursuit. With no other place to hide, she made her way back to “Che” Guevara’s forces. It was considered an open secret that Tamara had been intimate with “Che” but now the troops could not help but notice what was going on. The way they looked into each other’s eyes, and whispered sweet nothings, left no doubt in anyone’s mind, but that she was his lover….
The Bolivian highlands are notorious for the infestation of the Chigoe flea parasite, which infected Tamara. Having a leg injury and running a high fever, she and 16 other ailing fighters were ordered out of the region by Guevara. On August 31, 1967, up to her waist in the Rio Grande of Bolivia, and holding her M 1 rifle above her head, she and eight men were shot and killed in a hail of gunfire by Bolivian soldiers. Leaving their bodies in the water, it was several days before they were recovered downstream. Piranhas had attacked the bodies and their decomposing carcasses were polluting the water. Since the water was being used for drinking purposes by the people in a nearby village, the soldiers were ordered to clear the bodies out of the river. As they were preparing to bury Tamara’s remains in an unmarked grave, a local woman protested what was happening, and demanded that a woman should receive a Christian burial.
When he received the news of what had happened, Guevara was stunned and refused to accept it, thinking it was just a propaganda stunt to demoralize him. In Havana Fidel Castro declared her a “Heroine of the Revolution.”
There is always the possibility that Tamara was a double agent, whose mission it was to play up to “Che” when they met in Leipzig and then report back to the DDR (Democratic German Republic), who would in turn inform the USSR of “Che’s” activities. The spy game is a little like peeling an onion. Peel off one layer and what you find is yet another layer.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, The Exciting Story of Cuba

“Arnold went into treason as into a business, surveying the ground and estimating the possible profits.”
― Van Doren Carl C

“Дивуюся, як ваша ясновельможність не вгнуться під отсим тягарем.
Хтось його двигати мусить... Двигни цей камінь, двигни!”
― Богдан Лепкий, Не вбивай. Батурин

“God didn't give the General sons of his own. I reckon that's why He gave Washington an army - so that he could be father to us all.”
― Deborah Harkness, Time's Convert

“One of the most colorful and remarkable Ballinger family stories is the tale of how my direct ancestor, Joseph Ballinger Jr., became an American hero by supporting Major General Nathanael Greene’s army during the famed Battle of Guilford Court House in 1781 during the Revolutionary War.”
― Zita Steele, Makers of America: A Personal Family History

“N’ another thing,” Mitch said reaching into his pocket. “I made ya this,” he continued, opening his hand to reveal a ring. “Yer gonna be causin’ lots of talk ’round here ‘bout where ya came from n’ why yer boy ain’t got no papa here ‘bouts. I sanded the high spots so it’ll shine when ya hold it to th’ light. Ye can determine if ye wants to wear it.” she smiled as she slipped it onto the finger of her left hand. “I will wear it until I see no need.”
― Patricia Ann Ledford, Strings: The Story of Hope

“It is happy to be happy in war than seeking for happiness through peace without freedom.”
― Kangoma Kindembo

“With the distanced drumbeat of the Revolution, the chink of coins suddenly became more important than commitment to the cause.”
― Nancy Rubin Stuart, The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation

“What, after all, was the point of describing a Revolution meant to create a democratic republic of free men that was destroyed by power-hungry men determined to create a new 'aristocracy?”
― Nancy Rubin Stuart, The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation

“And therefore I ordered him to be instantly hanged.”
― Major General Stirling

“This is a new country, as you say. Why shouldn’t it have new laws, new customs? And why should not those customs extend to the home itself. To—to love!”
― Melissa de la Cruz, Alex and Eliza

“I conceive it to be a duty to content for what is right, be the issue as it may.”
― Thomas Fitzsimons

“People fight, Maria. It is what people do," he said. "No, Christian, MEN fight. It is what MEN do," she said.”
― Maria Schell Burden, Rules of Rebellion: Legends of the Mohawk Valley