I was born for a storm and a calm does not suit me.

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun.

Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.

John Calhoun, if you secede from my nation I will secede your head from the rest of your body.

There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.

Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.

When you get in debt you become a slave.

But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.

All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.

Freemasonry is an institution calculated to benefit mankind.

The only difference between fiction and religion is that people don't kill themselves over fiction.

If you've never been hated by your child, you've never been a parent.

Freedom is never the ally of law. You can have freedom to choose whether you want to join or leave a society based on the rule of law. But as long as you live in such a society you must obey the law.

CAUTION: What we see may not always be what we thought.

Reason: The arithmetic of the emotions.

...a distinction must be made between true and false ideas, and that too much rein must not be given to a man's imagination under pretext of its being a clear and distinct intellection.

The AP has only so many reporters, and CNN only has so many cameras, but we've got a world full of people with digital cameras and Internet access.

I did my dissertation on Kafka.

True goodness is like the glow-worm in this, that it shines most when no eyes except those of heaven are upon it.

Even I don't know what you're doing, and I know everything.