Franklin Pierce Quotes

In expressing briefly my views upon an important subject which has recently agitated the nation ... , I fervently hope that the question is at rest and that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement may again threaten the durability of our institutions.

There is nothing left to do but get drunk.

I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity.

If your past is limited, your future is boundless.

I speak of the war as fruitless; for it is clear that, prosecuted upon the basis of the proclamations of September 22d and September 24th, 1862, prosecuted, as I must understand these proclamations, to say nothing of the kindred blood which has followed, upon the theory of emancipation, devastation, subjugation, it cannot fail to be fruitless in every thing except the harvest of woe which it is ripening for what was once the peerless republic.

I never justify, sustain, or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel, heartless, aimless unnecessary war.

It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.

In a body [like Congress] where there are more than one hundred talking lawyers, you can make no calculation upon the termination of any debate.

The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded.

While men inhabiting different parts of this vast continent cannot be expected to hold the same opinions, they can untie in a common objective and sustain common principles.

You have summoned me in my weakness. You must sustain me in your strength.

The founders of the Republic dealt with things as they were presented to them, in a spirit of self sacrificing Patriotism and as time has proved, with a comprehensive wisdom which it will always be safe for us to consult

A Republic without parties is a complete anomaly. The histories of all popular governments show absurd is the idea of their attempting to exist without parties.

With the Union my best and dearest earthly hopes are entwined.