Quote collection
1.1K quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be 'the Union as it was'."
"I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual."
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."
"Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest."
"I could as easily bail out the Potomac River with a teaspoon as attend to all the details of the army."
"I am slow to listen to criminations among friends, and never espouse their quarrels on either side. My sincere wish is that both sides will allow bygones to be bygones, and look to the present & future only."
"Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh."
"The US patent system adds the fuel of interest to the fire of genius in the discovery and production of new and useful things"
"Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief -- resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer."
"A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started ... He will assume control of your cities, states and nations. He is going to move in and take over your churches, schools, universities, and corporations ... The fate of humanity is in his hands."
"Let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty."
"We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."
"When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that "all men are created equal" a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim "a self evident lie" The fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day-for burning fire-crackers!!!"
"Laughter can be used to sooth the mind and get rid of those awful thoughts."
"It is most cheering and encouraging for me to know that in the efforts which I have made and am making for the restoration of a righteous peace to our country, I am upheld and sustained by the good wishes and prayers of God's people. No one is more deeply than myself aware that without His favor our highest wisdom is but as foolishness and that our most strenuous efforts would avail nothing in the shadow of His displeasure."
"Don't kneel to me, that is not right. You must kneel to God only, and thank Him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy."
"My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read."
"There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed."
"The only person who is a worse liar than a faith healer is his patient."
"A man has not the time to spend half his life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack me, I never remember the past against him."