The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated.

Politics, as a trade, finds most and leaves nearly all dishonest.

Our political problem now is, "Can we as a nation continue together permanently - forever - half slave and half free?"

A jury too often has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end... I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.

If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it.