I have to thank the people, Congress and Government of the United States, for my liberation from captivity.

There is a sort of natural instinct of human dignity in the heart of man which steels his very nerves not to bend beneath the heavy blows of a great adversity. The palm-tree grows best beneath a ponderous weight, even so the character of man. There is no merit in it, it is a law of psychology. The petty pangs of small daily cares have often bent the character of men, but great misfortunes seldom. There is less danger in this than in great good luck.

I will not become a Napoleon nor an Alexander, and labour for my own ambition; but I will labour for freedom and for the moral well-being of man.

I consider that it is on instruction and education that the future security and direction of the destiny of every nation chiefly and fundamentally rests.

If I had undertaken the practical direction of military operations, and anything went amiss, I feared that my conscience would torture me, as guilty of the fall of my country, as I had not been familiar with military tactics.

I am a man of peace, God knows how I love peace; but I hope I shall never be such a coward as to mistake oppression for peace.

The unspoken word never does harm.