My chief concern is to try to be an humble, earnest Christian.

The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will.

We made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers

Duty is the sublimest work in the English language.

Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Take them as you find them. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage.

We must enlist our own snake and strike like a cobra against their vitals with an attack on Washington.

What a glorious world Almighty God has given us. How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor to mar his gifts.