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

I have gone wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any of them.

To avoid entangling alliances has been a maxim of our policy ever since the days of Washington, and its wisdom no one will attempt to dispute.

The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution.

I like the noise of democracy.

All the friends that I loved and wanted to reward are dead, and all the enemies that I hated and I had marked out for punishment are turned to my friends.

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