There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S.

I cannot, whilst President of the United States, descend to enter into a newspaper controversy.

The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.

When I observed a strong man approaching I generally took advantage of him by being a little quicker than he was and seizing him by the tip of the fingers, giving him a hearty shake, and thus preventing him from getting a full grip upon me.

If a man . . . would shake and not be shaken, grip and not be gripped, taking care always to squeeze the hand of his adversary as hard as it squeezed him, then he suffered no inconvenience from it.

It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits.

No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.