All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.

Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans.

Read history, works of truth, not novels and romances

The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others.

There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back.

I have never witnessed on any previous occasion such entire disregard of the usage of civilized warfare and the dictates of humanity.

No blame can be attached to the army for its failure to accomplish what was projected by me... I alone am to blame, in perhaps expecting too much of its prowess and valor... could I have foreseen that the attack on the last day would fail, I should certainly have tried some other course... but I do not know what better course I could have pursued.