George F. Hoar

His style was of the same class with that of William Cobbett and Horace Greeley, without ornament, not very copious, but simple, clear and vigorous.

He could convey his thought to the apprehension of common men without any loss in the process.

He had a gift of clear, racy and simple speech.

A breach of trust by a delegate to a nominating convention is an act of dishonor of the same class with that to which no presidential elector in the United States has yet stooped-- a breach of trust by an elector.

This especially is a duty to be performed fearlessly, though with due caution, when it is proposed in some quarters to erect monuments of statues to such men for the admiration of the youth of future generations.

History deals with Benedict Arnold, with Aaron Burr, with the evil counsellors of Charles I. and Charles II., with Robespierre, with Barere and with Catiline, upon their merits, and draws from their lives examples, or warnings, without…

It enters into the fate of republics, and will endure after the fashion of this world passeth away.

It relates to matters more permanent than human life.

But if there be such a thing in the universe as a moral law, if the distinction between right and wrong be other than fancy or a dream, the difference between General Butler and the men who contended with him belongs not to this life alone.

In the presence of the great reconciler, Death, ordinary human contentions and angers should be hushed.

It was never thought that the Secretary himself profited corruptly by the transaction, but only that he had suffered himself to be hoodwinked.

The wicked and fraudulent character of the transactions is shown in the report.

I do not think most of the Republican Senators who voted that way would have so voted if the culprit had been a Democrat.

I ought perhaps to say that I think the acquittal of Belknap on the ground that the Senate has no jurisdiction to render judgment against a civil officer on process of impeachment after he has left office, was influenced by political…

The lobbyist is not seen in the Committee Room or the Corridor of the Capitol, as was the case when I entered Congress in 1869.

This act was not passed to further the personal interests of the corporators, nor for the advancement of commercial interests, nor for the convenience of the general public, alone; but in addition to these the interests, present and…

The railroad corporation was not a mere contractor, bound to furnish a specified structure and nothing more.

The United States was not a mere creditor, loaning a sum of money upon a mortgage.

They treated it as if they were transferring money from one pocket to another.

They seemed to have thought they were the sole owners of the Union Pacific Railroad and of the Credit Mobilier corporation, and that the transaction between the two concerned themselves only and not the public.

They seemed to treat it as a purely private transaction, out of which they might get all the money they could, without any obligation to carry out the act according to its spirit, or even according to its letter, if they could only do so…

But he and his associates in the Union Pacific Railroad seemed, in this matter, to be utterly destitute of any sense of public duty or comprehension of the great purposes of Congress.

Saying, What is excellent, As God lives, is permanent.

But, thank God, what is petty and personal is also temporary and perishable.

Every account of political history from the inside will exhibit abundant evidence of wickedness, wrongdoing, and petty personal motives, of low ambitions, of bargains and sales, of timidity, of treachery.