Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime.

The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority.

Political differences essentially depend on disagreement in moral principles.

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.

Every class is unfit to govern.

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

Socialism means slavery.