Those who have wrought great changes in the world never succeeded by gaining over chiefs; but always by exciting the multitude. The first is the resource of intrigue and produces only secondary results, the second is the resort of genius and transforms the universe.

I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men... in receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.

To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences, I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly with the constitutional authority of the Federal Government.

The second, sober thought of the people is seldom wrong, and always efficient.

It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.

I never knew a man more free from conceit, or one to whom it was a greater extent a pleasure, as well as a recognized duty, to listen patiently to what might be said to him upon any subject under consideration....Neither, I need scarcely say, was he in the habit of talking, much less boasting, of his own achievements.

If laws acting upon private interests can not always be avoided, they should be confined within the narrowest limits, and left wherever possible to the legislatures of the States.