Quotes by William Tecumseh Sherman

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
War is too serious a matter to leave to soldiers.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
War is at its best barbarism.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
There's many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory but it is all hell.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
The scenes on this field would have cured anybody of war.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
In our Country... one class of men makes war and leaves another to fight it out.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
He belonged to that army known as invincible in peace, invisible in war.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter.
– William Tecumseh Sherman
An Army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every change in the rules which impairs the principle weakens the army.
– William Tecumseh Sherman