I never knew what to do with a paper except to put it in a side pocket or pass it to a clerk who understood it better than I did.

Let no guilty man escape if it can be avoided. Be specially vigilant-or instruct those engaged in the prosecution of fraud to be-against all who insinuate that they have high influence to protect-or to protect them. No personal consideration should stand in the way of performing a public duty.

I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally.

The great bulk of the legal voters of the South were men who owned no slaves; their homes were generally in the hills and poor country; their facilities for educating their children, even up to the point of reading and writing, were very limited; their interest in the contest was very meagre--what there was, if they had been capable of seeing it, was with the North; they too needed emancipation.

I have made it a rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up, but I don't see how I can ever trust any human being again.

I will raid the arsenal and start a war to end slavery.

I suppose this work is part of the devil that is in us all.