Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.

I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than the dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation.

Act with a determination not to be turned aside by thoughts of the past and fears of the future.

A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know where it is today.

You must be careful how you walk and where you go, for there are those following you who will set their feet where yours are set.

I have always observed that wherever you find the negro, everything is going down around him, and wherever you find the white man, you see everything around him improving.

A Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me.