“Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust.”

Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.

Those who have committed no faults want no pardon. We are only defending what we deem our indisputable rights.

The experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure.

A man ought not to value himself of his achievements or rare qualities of wit, much less of his riches, virtue or kindred.

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation.

Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest, or advantage, to the common good.

We began a contest for liberty ill provided with the means for the war, relying on our patriotism to supply the deficiency.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people.

Real men despise battle, but will never run from it.

System to all things is the soul of business. To execute properly and act maturely is the way to conduct it to your advantage.

The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

We must consult our means rather than our wishes.

One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.

Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

We don’t actually fear death, we fear that no one will notice our absence, that we will disappear without a trace.

If they don’t appreciate your presence, they may never recognize your absence.

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.

I have decorated your absence with every flower you hate. I end up hating em all.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

It’s not enough to be quiet. Quietness is the absence of noise. We need peace, the presence of justice and to be – and so people here can coexist and live together.

Don’t go where I can’t follow!

Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power’s disappearance.