Achievement has no color

When I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three.... The little advanceI now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.

I am for . . . each individual doing just as he chooses in all matters which concern nobody else.

When I lay down the reins of this administration, I want to have one friend left. And that friend is myself.

Wanting to work is so rare a merit, that it should be encouraged.

[If not re-elected in 1864] then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.

I say 'try'; if we never try, we shall never succeed.