Henry Cabot Lodge: “It is impossible to determine with perfect accuracy any man's motives in what he says or does.”

He preached unceasingly the familiar morals which lie at the bottom of both family and public life.

The blood of some ancestral Scotch covenanter or of some Dutch reformed preacher facing the tyranny of Philip of Spain was in his veins, and with his large opportunities and his vast audiences he was always ready to appeal for justice and…

He was also--and this is very revealing and explanatory, too, of his vast popularity--a man of ideals.

His ideal of public service was to be found in his life, and as his life drew to its close he had to meet his ideal of sacrifice face to face.