George F. Hoar

He had read and mastered Tacitus, and a man who has mastered Tacitus has had the best gymnastic training of the intellect, both in vigor and style, which the resources of all literature can supply.

He would bring out bits of history, full of interest and instruction, from the most obscure sources, in common conversation.

He had a learning rare among public men, and, for its variety, rare, I think, among scholars.

His conversation was sparkling and witty and full of variety, but no spark from him was ever a cinder in the eye of his friend.

Still less had it ever anything of ill nature or sarcasm.

His conversation, to which it was always a delight to listen, had no gossip in it.

I do not think he ever asked favors, though no man was more willing to grant them.

He was, in the first place, always a gentleman; and a true gentleman always gives tone to any company in which he is found, whether it be among the rulers of States or the humblest gathering of friendly neighbors.

He had discharged honorably life's highest duty, and his cup of honor and of glory was full.

He offered his life for his country when life was all before him.

What can be said more, or what can be said better, to sum up the life of an American citizen?

With all respect for the man of letters, we are not yet quite ready to admit that the trumpeter is better than the soldier, or the painter greater than the lion.

There have been statesmen whose silent influence has decided the issue when the country was at the parting of the ways, of whose service history takes no heed.

There have been soldiers whose courage saved the day in great decisive battles when the fate of nations hung in the scale, yet whose most enduring monument was the column of smoke which rose when their death shot was fired.

He That, through the channels of the state, Conveys the people's wish, is great; His name is pure; his fame is free.

But it was Solon, and Pericles, and Miltiades that created and saved and made great the city, without which the poets could not have existed.

The name of every man but one who fought with Leonidas at Thermopylae is forgotten.

I am not ready to admit that even Shakespeare worked on a higher plane, or was a greater power on earth, than King Alfred or George Washington, even if it be that he will survive them both in the memory of man.

But whether a man be remembered or whether he be forgotten; whether his work be appreciated or no; whether his work be known or unknown at the time it is accomplished, is not the test of its greatness or its value to mankind.

But I do not admit that the title of the historian or that of the poet to the gratitude and affection of mankind is greater than that of the soldier who saves nations, or that of the statesman who creates or preserves them, or who makes…

No man reveres more than I do the man of genius who in a loving and reverent way writes the history of a great people, or the poet from whose lyre comes the inspiration which induces heroic action in war and peace.

No man values more than I do the function of the man of letters.

President, in this great century which is just over, when our Republic--this infant Hercules--has been growing from its cradle to its still youthful manhood, the greatest place for a live man has been that of a soldier in time of war and…

They prove that the people of the American States, speaking through their legislative assemblies, are not likely to select men to represent them in this august assembly who are lacking in high qualities either of intellect or of character.

His mind was a marvellous storehouse of literary gems which were unknown to most scholars, but rewarded his diligent search and loving study of his books.