18th-century Soldier Quotes

José de San Martín
Jan Potocki
Richard Montgomery
John Gabriel Stedman
William Prescott

The conscience is the best and most impartial judge that a righteous man has.

José de San Martín
José de San Martín
Words strike the air and the mind, they act on the senses and on the soul.

Jan Potocki
Jan Potocki
Never was a person more mortified than I was at this time, to see so fair an opportunity to push a victory; Detroit lost for want of a few men.

I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country demand a peculiar service, its claim to perform that service are imperious.

Plant your lands and reap; these be your best gold fields, for all must eat while they live.

Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes.

William Prescott
William Prescott
I shall endeavour to discharge my duty to society, considering myself only as the citizen, moved by the melancholy necessity of taking up arms for the public safety.

Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery
Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war let it begin here!

A happy people I call them still, whose peace and genuine morals have not been contaminated with European vices; and whose errorsare only the errors of ignorance, and not the rooted depravity of a pretended civilization, and a spurious and mock Christianity.

John Gabriel Stedman
John Gabriel Stedman
It is not the cover of the book, but what the book contains is the question. Many a good book has dark covers. Which is the worst, the white black man or the black white man? To be black outside, or to be black inside?