Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.
Interpretation
The quote advocates for the separation of religion from government and public institutions.
Ulysses S. Grant emphasizes the importance of maintaining a clear boundary between religion and state affairs. He suggests that religious practice should be a private matter, managed by families, churches, and educational institutions funded by private donations, without interference or support from the government. This perspective aims to ensure freedom of belief and the impartiality of governance.
In practice
In a speech advocating for the rights of all citizens, one might quote this to highlight the importance of religious freedom.
The great bulk of the legal voters of the South were men who owned no slaves; their homes were generally in the hills and poor country; their facilities for educating their children, even up to the point of reading and writing, were very limited; their interest in the contest was very meagre--what there was, if they had been capable of seeing it, was with the North; they too needed emancipation.
Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this Book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future.
Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion;.... leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate.
When news of the surrender first reached our lines our men commenced firing a salute of a hundred guns in honor of the victory. I at once sent word, however, to have it stopped. The Confederates were now our prisoners, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.
I have made it a rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up, but I don't see how I can ever trust any human being again.
A hero does for others. He would do anything for people he loves, because he knows it would make their lives better. I am not that kind of person, but I want you to be. You could give something to her, to me, to those children in the quarter. You could give something I never could ... The white people out there are saying you don't have it-that you're a hog, not a man. But I know they are wrong.
There is no fundamental difference in the ways of thinking of primitive and civilized man. A close connection between race and personality has never been established.
I've been present at birth, and death is just as present and in equal balance. And I've been present at death, and birth is just as present, again in equal balance.
It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different.
There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning.
Perhaps the time has come to cease calling it the 'environmentalist' view, as though it were a lobbying effort outside the mainstream of human activity, and to start calling it the real-world view.
When we realize what we were before Christ and what we deserved in that state, it further magnifies the enormity of the gospel for us.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.