A visitor asked Lincoln what good news he could take home from an audience with the august executive. The president spun a story about a machine that baffled a chess champion by beating him thrice. The stunned champ cried while inspecting the machine...
On Lee as commander: "He had a cheerful dignity and could praise them (his men) without seeming to court their favor.
Grant was something rare in that or any war. He could learn from experience.
He is the kind of person I should expect to rescue one from a mad dog at any risk but then insist on a stoical indifference to the fright afterward." Jefferson Davis's future wife describing him at first meeting.
We have more to fear from the opinions of our friends than the bayonets of our enemies." Politician turned Union General Nathaniel Banks, in plea he couldn't abandon an untenable position.
Not married until 33, Abraham Lincoln said, "A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that cannot hurt me.
