There is always hazard in military activity, but we must decide between the positive loss of inactivity and the risk of action.

A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know where it is today.

Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South, I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native State?

There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.

A land without memories is a people without liberty.

Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans.

I have always observed that wherever you find the negro, everything is going down around him, and wherever you find the white man, you see everything around him improving.

I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony.

The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.

So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished.

In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.

The sword has no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage

I need you to just trust me for now without knowing all the answers.

It is through our imperfections that our true beauty shines through.

The office of poetry is not to make us think accurately, but feel truly.

Grandfather always said school’s a place where they take sixteen years to wear down your brain. Grandfather hardly went to school either.

If you actually do something you love it's a lot easier and takes on a lot more purpose.

It's sort of my fun to sing along with records and imitate people who are on the telephone that have different ways of speaking.

We're all idealistic when young.

Music comes from the musician, not the instrument.

You can't think and hit the ball at the same time.