Description of a Gentleman - Robert E. Lee:

"The power which the strong have over the weak, the magistrate over the citizen, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly-the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for the nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true gentleman of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others."

CONFEDERATE GEN. ROBERT E. LEE

J. WILLIAM JONES, PERSONAL REMINISCENCES, ANECDOTES, AND LETTERS OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE

Note found in his satchel after his death (1874)