The day is not distant when we must bear and adopt [the abolition of slavery], or worse will follow.

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

If some period be not fixed, either by the Constitution or by practice, to the services of the First Magistrate, his office, though nominally elective, will, in fact, be for life, and that will soon degenerate into an inheritance.

We do not mean to count or weigh our contributions by any standard other than that of our abilities.

Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act.

Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the most corrupt government on the earth.