“world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion …”
“Richmond serves one purpose. Lee must defend it. If we threaten the city, he will have to confront us. Lee will soon learn … we are not going away. If the newspapers and all those people in Washington must hear that, fine, I will write it down, send a letter to Stanton. You can deliver it yourself, read it to him, to all of them, make them understand what we are going to do. If it takes all summer … if it takes all year … it is only a matter of time before General Lee must face the consequences.”
“The word began to filter down the lines, and the grumbling stopped, there was something new about this march, something these men had never been a part of before. If the fight in the Wilderness had not gone their way—the most optimistic called it a draw—they were not doing what this army had always done before, they were not going back above the river. If they had never said much about Grant, had never thought him any different from the ones who had come before, if they had become so used to the steady parade of failure, this time there was a difference. Some wanted to cheer, but were hushed by nervous officers. So along the dusty roads hats went up and muskets were held high, a silent salute to this new commander. This time, they were marching south.”
“Colonel, General Sheridan will be big enough for all of us before this is through.”
“Meade looked at Grant, and Grant turned, moved toward his tent, said quietly, “General, a moment, if you please …”
“I’m not concerned about General Burnside right now. I’m much more concerned with how far Lee will let us go before he does something.”
“he is appointed Lieutenant Colonel, second-in-command of the Twentieth Maine Regiment of Volunteers.”
“Burnside was in the best position on the field, could have moved at any time toward a weak defense, a defense that was weaker still”
“Vegetables were almost nonexistent, and what passed for meat was either rancid or pure fat. The men were surviving on crackers and moldy flour. Lee was beginning to understand what this meant to the fighting strength of the army.”
“Lee made small greetings to the others, saw the sour expression of Jubal Early, Ewell’s division commander,”
“see the strength of the blue lines in front of them. But it was”
“responsibility, had been shifted from the president’s weakening shoulders. It was now up”
“who blamed Lee. Longstreet knew that somewhere”
“I'm calling it the Watney Triangle because after what I've been through, shit on Mars should be named after me.”
“The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors.”
“This is love, she thought, isn't it? When you notice someone's absence and hate that absence more than anything? More, even, than you love his presence?”
“None of those other things makes a difference. Love is the strongest thing in the world, you know. Nothing can touch it. Nothing comes close. If we love each other we're safe from it all. Love is the biggest thing there is.”
“In our world," said Eustace, "a star is a huge ball of flaming gas."
Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.”
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