Wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.

To say that everything in the bible is to be believed , simply because it is found in that volume, is equally absurd and pernicious... To discard a portion of scripture is not necessarily to reject the truth, but may be the highest evidence that one can give of his love of truth.

Slavery will not be overthrown without excitement, a most tremendous excitement.

I will be as harsh as truth, and uncompromising as justice... I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.

The compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell.

I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.

Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen - but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present.