“I am less disposed to think of a West Point education as requisite for this business than I was at first. Good sense and energy are the qualities required.”

“Law without education is a dead letter. With education the needed law follows without effort and, of course, with power to execute itself indeed, it seems to execute itself.”

“Universal suffrage should rest upon universal education. To this end, liberal and permanent provision should be made for the support of free schools by the State governments, and, if need be, supplemented by legitimate aid from national authority.”

“Do not let your bachelor ways crystallize so that you can't soften them when you come to have a wife and a family of your own.”