Towering genius distains a beaten path.

On the whole, my impression is that mercy bears richer fruits than any other attribute.

It has long been recognized that the problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing.

From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.

The press has no better friend than I am, no one who is more ready to acknowledge . . . its tremendous power for both good and evil.

We believe that the spreading out and perpetuity of the institution of slavery impairs the general welfare. We believe - nay, we know, that that is the only thing that has ever threatened the perpetuity of the Union itself.

But let the past as nothing be. For the future my view is that the fight must go on.