The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

The wise and honorable and Christian thing to do is to treat each black man and each white man (or any person) on his merits as a man, giving him no more and no less than he is worthy to have.

The good citizen will demand liberty for himself, and as a matter of pride he will see to it that others receive the liberty which he thus claims as his own. Probably the best test of true love of liberty in any country is the way in which minorities are treated in that country. Not only should there be complete liberty in matters of religion and opinion, but complete liberty for each man to lead his life as he desires, provided only that in so doing he does not wrong his neighbor.

No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience.

Hardness of heart is a dreadful quality, but it is doubtful whether in the long run it works more damage than softness of head.

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.