Liberty must be allowed to work out its natural results; and these will, ere long, astonish the world.

Our union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war.

The course of events is so rapidly hastening forward that the emergency may soon arise when you may be called upon to decide the momentous question whether you possess the power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union

If you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed.

The Government of the United States possesses no power whatever over the question of religion.

The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among free men.

Whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.