A certain combination of incompetence and indifference can cause almost as much suffering as the most acute malevolence.

Abraham Lincoln was not all brooding and melancholy and patient understanding. There was a hard core in him, and plenty of toughness. He could recognize a revolutionary situation when he saw one, and he could act fast and ruthlessly to meet it.

Early youth is a baffling time

Men see things late, and it may be that at times an evil fate drives them on.

Yet there is a dignity in the human spirit which can become most clearly visible in the moment of defeat and disaster.

Soldiers who had been in the army long enough to know what a bloody swindle war really is would begin to feel that army life was really kind of fun, as long as [General Philip] Sheridan was up front.

Like most Rebel soldiers, Sam Watkins owned no slaves.