“The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man”

“We have the right as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. ”

“... A man's wife can hold him devilish uneasy, if she begins to scold and fret, and perplex him, at a time when he has a full load for a railroad car on his mind already.”

“Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed me, you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.”

“You can all go to hell; I will go to Texas”

“be always sure you're right, THEN GO AHEAD!”

“better to keep a good conscience with an empty purse, than to get a bad opinion of myself, with a full one.”