“Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

“You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence”

“When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.”

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

“The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”

“Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.”