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

Go to the Scriptures... the joyful promises it contains will be a balsam to all your troubles.

In a free government the demand for moral qualities should be made superior to that of talents.

The great can protect themselves, but the poor and humble require the arm and shield of the law.

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.

Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well.

I have never in my life seen a Kentuckian who didn't have a gun, a pack of cards, and a jug of whiskey.

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.

I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell.

No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody.

The people are the government, administering it by their agents; they are the government, the sovereign power.

Thomas Paine needs no monument made with hands; he has erected a monument in the hearts of all lovers of liberty.

From his proceedings in Congress, he appears demented, and his actings and doings inspire my pity more than anger.

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

I would sincerely regret, and which never shall happen whilst I am in office, a military guard around the President.

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

The President is the direct representative of the American people and is elected by the people and responsible to them.

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

The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had.

The brave man inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts in the hour of danger.

If a warden sees cigarette litter being thrown from a car, they will take the number and trace the owner to send them a fine.

The brave man, inattentive to his duty, is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.

This season has been full of rewards. The dinners and banquets just keep on coming. It's great. We want to carry it on as long as we can.

Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all political power be substantially concentrated.

Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men and this is the greatest blessing of free governments.

In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than another.

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.

Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of high importance.

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.

It was settled by the Constitution, the laws, and the whole practice of the government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United States.

Although I could lament in the language and feelings of David for Absalom, I am constrained to say, peace to his manes. Let us weep for the living, and not for the dead.

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.

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.

The individual who refuses to defend his rights when called by his government deserves to be a slave, and must be punished as an enemy of his country and a friend to her foe

I do not forget that I am a mechanic. I am proud to own it. Neither do I forget that the apostle Paul was a tentmaker; Socrates was a sculptor; and Archimedes was a mechanic.

The Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver. . . . Was there ever witnessed such a bare faced corruption in any country before?

Secession, like any other REVOLUTIONARY ACT, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms.

I am fearful that the paper system will ruin the state. Its demoralizing effects are already seen and spoken of everywhere. I therefore protest against receiving any of that trash.

Freemasonry is an establishment founded on the benevolent intention of extending and conferring mutual happiness upon the best and truest principles of moral life and social virtue.

I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life.

When death comes, he respects neither age nor merit. He sweeps from the earthly existence the sick and the strong, the rich and the poor, and should teach us to live to be prepared for death.

There is nothing that I shudder at more than the idea of a separation of the Union. Should such an event ever happen, which I fervently pray God to avert, from that date I view our liberty gone.

If they [Mexicans] touch the hair of the head of one of our citizens, tell him [Commodore Dallas] to batter down and destroy their town and exterminate the inhabitants from the face of the earth!

The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none.

My political enemies I can freely forgive; but as for who abused me when I was serving my country in the field, and those who attacked me for serving my country -- Doctor, that is a different case.

I not only rejoice, but congratulate my beloved country Texas is reannexed, and the safety, prosperity, and the greatest interest of the whole Union is secured by this great and important national act.

I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an Emperor or a King my republican feelings and principles forbid it the simplicity of our system of government forbids it.

The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key and bolt the door at once.

To extraordinary powers of labor, both mental and physical, he unites that tact and judgement which are requisite to the successful direction of such an office as that of Chief Magistrate of a free people.

There are, perhaps, few men who can for any length of time enjoy office and power without being more or less under the influence of feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their political duties.

Share This Page