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.

A convinced man differs from a prejudiced man as an honest man from a liar.

Liberty is the prevention of control by others.

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.

Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. ~ Every class is unfit to govern ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Progress, the religion of those who have none.

Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity.