Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.

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

A man may manifest and communicate his joy, but he should conceal and smother his grief as much as possible.

We have fought this fight as long, and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.

Such an executive officer the sun never shone on. I have but to show him my design, and I know that it can be done, it will be done...Straight as the needle to the pole he advanced to the execution of my purpose.

Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.

My experiences of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them nor be indisposed to serve them: nor, in spite of failures which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge, or the present aspect of affairs, do I despair of the future. The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.