I will accept no commission that would tend to create a rivalry with Grant. I want him to hold what he has earned and got. I have all the rank I want.

The carping and bickering of political factions in the nation's capital reminds me of two pelicans quarreling over a dead fish.

The North can make a steam engine, locomotive or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or a pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical and determined people on earth - right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with.

Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.

I found so many Jews and speculators here trading in cotton, and secessionists had become so open in refusing anything but gold, that I have felt myself bound to stop it. The gold can have but one use - the purchase of arms and ammunition... Of course, I have respected all permits by yourself or the Secretary of the Treasury, but in these new cases (swarms of Jews), I have stopped it.

I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.

You may as well say, 'That's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.