"By what principle of original right is it that one-fiftieth or one-ninetieth of a great nation, by calling themselves a State, have the right to break up and ruin that nation as a matter of original principle?"

"I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life."

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."

"We can succeed only by concert. It is not, 'Can any of us imagine better,' but, 'Can we all do better?'"

"There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, 'Truth is the daughter of Time.'"

"Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this, and this great nation shall continue to prosper as before."

"I am rather inclined to silence."

"I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other."

"I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it."

"I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise."

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it."

"Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets."

"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself."

"When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes."

"I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle this matter by lunch time."

"Certainly our goal is to leave Iraq, but we can't leave Iraq with our forces until we know that the Iraqi security forces are capable and efficient enough to defend the sovereignty of the nation."

"But the key shift in focus will be from counter-insurgency operations to more and more cooperation with Iraqi security forces and to building Iraqi security capacity."

"But I am satisfied that the information that we have that this is the work of Zarqawi, is accurate."

"But clearly the fact that we've gone from zero Iraqi security forces on duty in May to up to 200,000 today is an enormous accomplishment, but it's not enough."

"Being on the run, having to change the way that you do business, being unable to plan in a safe and secure environment, always looking over your shoulder, knowing that some day somebody's going to knock on your door and it's going to be your last."

"As far as Zarqawi is concerned, there is a network of extremists; it's not just Zarqawi."

"And so I think that if the person has the funds, the network, and the equipment to do this, and also the experience, which is the key factor, then they can be quite deadly."

"And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you'll see American and coalition presence there decline."

"We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone."