"I have been a good boy, and have not been in anybody's way, or in anybody's debt."

"The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he made so many of them."

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser—in fees, expenses, and waste of time."

"Permit me to say that, in my humble judgment, I never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence."

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by…"