Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.

I did only what my duty demanded. I could have taken no other course without dishonor.

Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word 'concernЂќ out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice.

Lee tells his troops. After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.

But what a cruel thing is war to separate and destroy families and friends.

The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy.

All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth.

Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.

I pray that on this day [Christmas] when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace.

You cannot barter manhood for peace.

We must...submit ourselves in adversity to the will of a merciful God as cheerfully as in prosperity.

The dominant party cannot reign forever, and truth and justice will prevail at last.

A man may manifest and communicate his joy, but he should conceal and smother his grief as much as possible.

You see what a poor sinner I am, and how unworthy to possess what was given me; for that reason it has been taken away.

There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.

Shake off those gloomy feelings. Drive them away. Fix your mind and pleasures upon what is before you.All is bright if you will think it so. All is happy if you will make it so. Do not dream. It is too ideal, too imaginary. Dreaming by day, I mean. Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Take them as you find them. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage.

There is scarcely anything that is right that we cannot hope to accomplish by labor and perseverance. But the first must be earnest and the second unremitting.

I have always observed that wherever you find the negro, everything is going down around him, and wherever you find the white man, you see everything around him improving.