Do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of Independence.

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.

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 met with a problem I always ask myself what is the right thing to do and then I do it.

God must love the common man, he made so many of them.

Our adversaries [ the Confederate States of America ] have adopted some declarations of independence in which, unlike the good old one penned by Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal." Why? They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit "We, the People," and substitute "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view, the rights of men, and the authority of the people?

You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm.