Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
Wise councils may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later the victory is sure to come.
Mr. Chairman, this movement is exclusively the work of politicians; a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people, and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men. I say this with the greater freedom because, being a politician myself, none can regard it as personal.:
These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the people, and now, that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel.
It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler.
In one faculty, at least, there can be no dispute of the gentleman's superiority over me, and most other men; and that is, the faculty of entangling a subject, so that neither himself, or any other man, can find head or tail to it.
I once had the confidence of the people ... and if I have since done any thing, either by design or misadventure, which if known, would subject me to a forfeiture of that confidence, he that knows of that thing, and conceals it, is a traitor to his country's interest.
No one has needed favours more than I, and generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them.
I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms, (by no means excluding females.)
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men.
Let reverence for the Laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap.
Although bad Laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed.
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
... to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor.
Nothing would make me more miserable than to believe you miserable – nothing more happy, than to know you were so.
My opinion is that you had better not do it. You have not been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more severe than you now immagine.
Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make her happy and contented; and there is nothing I can immagine, that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the effort.
This thing of living in Springfield is rather a dull business after all, at least it is so to me.
The Savior of the whole world chose twelve disciples, and even one of that small number, selected by superhuman wisdom, turned out a traitor and a devil.
I never despair of sustaining myself before the people upon any measure that will stand a full investigation.
I believe it can be sustained, because it does not increase the tax upon the 'many poor' but upon the 'wealthy few.'
You were in an ill-Humor when you wrote that letter, and, no doubt, intended that I should be thrown into one also; which, however, I respectfully decline being done.
I am willing to pledge myself in black and white to cut my own throat from ear to ear, if, when I meet you, you shall seriously say, that you believe me capable of betraying my friends for any price.
The resources of the State must be husbanded. Economy is to be the order of the day. We must find some new sources of revenue. We need them, and shall need them, for many years to come.
If we do our duty we shall succeed in the congressional election, but if we relax an iota, we shall be beaten.
Others have been made fools of by the girls; but this can never be with truth said of me. I most emphatically, in this instance, made a fool of myself.
I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying; and for this reason; I can never be satisfied with any one who would be blockhead enough to have me.
Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations.
When the victory shall be complete … there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth.
