I never told my own religion nor scrutinized that of another. I never attempted to make a convert, nor wished to change another's creed. I am satisfied that yours must be an excellent religion to have produced a life of such exemplary virtue and correctness. For it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be judged.

Compulsion in religion is distinguished peculiarly from compulsion in every other thing. ...I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.

No man has greater confidence than I have in the spirit of the people, to a rational extent. Whatever they can, they will.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Error is to be pitied and pardoned: it is the weakness of human nature. But vice is a foul blemish, not pardonable in any character.

The only true corrective of Constitutional abuses is education.

The cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American.