Ink was not invented to express our real feelings.

Many men can no more be kept straight by spiritual motives than we can live without policemen.

I saw in States' rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy.... Therefore I deemed that you were fighting the battles of our liberty, our progress, and our civilization, and I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.

The common vice of democracy is disregard for morality.

There is not a soul who does not have to beg alms of another, either a smile, a handshake, or a fond eye.

Property is not the sacred right. When a rich man becomes poor it is a misfortune, it is not a moral evil. When a poor man becomes destitute, it is a moral evil, teeming with consequences and injurious to society and morality.

Socialism easily accepts despotism. It requires the strongest execution of power -- power sufficient to interfere with property.