No one has needed favours more than I, and generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them; but in this case, favour to me,would be injustice ….

The world is agreed that labor is the source from which human wants are mainly supplied. There is no dispute upon this point..

Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling..

...I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original i….

I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free..

If we exchange one dollar, we both have one dollar each. But if we exchange one good thought, we both have two good thoughts.

It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest..

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all ….

You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then exclusively to save the Union..

The good old maxims of the Bible are applicable, and truly applicable to human affairs, and in this as in other things, we may say here that he who i….

A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall. So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sinc….

Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica..

Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, t….

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause..

Cling to liberty and right; battle fro them; leed for them; die for them, if need be; and have confidence in God..

In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip, on a Steam Boat from Louisville to St. Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Loui….

The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors on h….

Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other right..

At 50, if you are on a diet on your birthday, you can't eat a piece of your birthday cake. So grab two, a piece in each hand and, lo and behold, you ….

A tendancy to melancholy...let it be observed, is a misfortune, not a fault..

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally..