Laws or ordinances unobserved, or partially attended to, had better never have been made.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few.

My anxious recollections, my sympathetic feeling, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom.

Nothing short of self-respect and that justice which is essential to a national character ought to involve us in war.

No people can be bound to acknowledge the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the united States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency

I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.

Good moral character is the first essential in a man.