To be a patriot, one had to say, and keep on saying, "Our Country, right or wrong," and urge on the little war. Have you not perceived that that phrase is an insult to the nation?

It was the most earnest ambition I ever had....Not that I ever really wanted to be a preacher, but because it never occurred to me that a preacher could be damned. It looked like a safe job.

The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession.

Our lives, our liberty, and our property are never in greater danger than when Congress is in session.

If I had been helping the Almighty when he created man, I would have had him begin at the other end, and start human beings with old age. How much better to start old and have all the bitterness and blindness of age in the beginning!

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.

If everyone was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.