Although… the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States. – James K. Polk

If a secret history of books could be written, and the authors private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader! – William Makepeace Thackeray

The worlds battlefields have been in the heart chiefly more heroism has been displayed in the household and the closet, than on the most memorable battlefields in history. – Henry Ward Beecher