“To his son Custis, a cadet at West Point, Lee once wrote:

‘Shake off those gloomy feelings. Drive them away. Fix your mind and pleasures upon what is before you. … All is bright if you will think it so. All is happy if you will make it so. Do not dream. It is too ideal, too imaginary. Dreaming by day, I mean. Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage.””

H.W. Crocker, Robert E. Lee on Leadership, p. 16