I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard!

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will sink out of sight.

No man will ever bring out the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don’t agree with.

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

If one but tell a thing well, it moves on with undying voice, and over the fruitful earth and across the sea goes the bright gleam of noble deeds ever unquenchable.

When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, one hundred.

The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.

Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.