I have considered the pension list of the republic a roll of honor.

The broad rich acres of our agricultural plains have been long preserved by nature to become her untrammeled gift to a people civilized and free, upon which should rest, in well-distributed ownership, the numerous homes of enlightened, equal, and fraternal citizens... Nor should our vast tracts of so-called desert lands be yielded up to the monopoly of corporations or grasping individuals, as appears to be much the tendency under the existing statute.

Sometimes I wake at night in the White House and rub my eyes and wonder if it is not all a dream.

Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be no shutting them again.

If it takes the entire army and navy to deliver a postal card in Chicago, that card will be delivered.

The best results in the operation of a government wherein every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper limitation of the purely partisan zeal and effort and a correct appreciation of the time when the heat of the partisan should be merged in the patriotism of the citizen. ... At this hour the animosities of political strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and the exultation of partisan triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence in the popular will and a sober, conscientious concern for the general weal. ... Public extravagance begets extravagance among the people.

Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees who hold their places solely as the reward of partisan service.