Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the same time do for it too little. . . . We must strive for normalcy to reach stability.

Death, like the quintessence of otherness, is for others.

We [Americans] have a great ardor for gain; but we have a deep passion for the rights of man.

All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for.

All the extraordinary men I have ever known were chiefly extraordinary in their own estimation.

Your enlightenment depends on the company you keep. You do not know the world until you know the men who have possessed it and tried its wares before you were ever given your brief run upon it.

I am the friend of peace and mean to preserve it for America so long as I am able. . . . No course of my choosing or of their (nations at war) will lead to war. War can come only by the wilful acts and aggressions of others.