American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States
Repeal the Missouri Compromise - repeal all compromises - repeal the Declaration of Independence - repeal all past history, you still cannot repeal human nature. It will be the abundance of man's heart that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak.
It is not my nature, when I see a people borne down by the weight of their shackles - the oppression of tyranny - to make their life more bitter by heaping upon them greater burdens; but rather would I do all in my power to raise the yoke than to add anything that would tend to crush them.
The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the angels of our nature.
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech.
If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have.
The point - the power to hurt - of all figures lies in the truthfulness of their application.