Cling to liberty and right; battle fro them; leed for them; die for them, if need be; and have confidence in God.

Should my administration prove to be a very wicked one...or a very foolish one, if you, the people, are true to yourselves and the Constitution, there is little harm I can do, thank God.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.

The worst thing you can do for anyone you care about is anything that they can do on their own.

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.

A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.

As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.