Abraham Lincoln: “If, however, the Secretary of the Navy should ascertain that the steamer is adapted to our service, he is authorized to…”

He said, with a great deal of emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I shall never forget: "When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and there is no…

I do the very best I know how--the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

The question is, will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it?