The precepts of philosophy and of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. (Jesus) pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the regions of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head.

It is a happy circumstance in human affairs that evils which are not cured in one way will cure themselves in some other.

The President is bound to stop at the limits prescribed by our Constitution and law to the authorities in his hands, [and this] would apply in an occasion of peace as well as war.

In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve.

The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years.

I can scarcely contemplate a more incalculable evil than the breaking of the Union into two or more parts.

It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.