I worked night and day for twelve years to prevent the war, but I could not. The North was mad and blind, would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came.

African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing.

The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.

Truthfulness is a cornerstone in character, and if it be not firmly laid in youth, there will ever after be a weak spot in the foundation.

Truth crushed to earth is truth still and like a seed will rise again.

The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.

Governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.

Neither current events nor history show that the majority rule, or ever did rule.

All we ask is to be let alone.

Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southerner apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance.

A question settled by violence, or in disregard of law, must remain unsettled forever.

The house smelled musty and damp, and a little sweet, as if it were haunted by the ghosts of long-dead cookies.

My Dad once told me: “you will retire only in your grave!”

I felt torn Between living and dying Between sleeping and surviving.

So Nature deals with us, and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest.

The sweetest happiness is one that we share .

I will no longer take anyone's word for my experience.

I think politicians do great things in the world, but I don't think they're the only ones who can. I don't like all the rhetoric and the finger pointing.

If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.

Who said that clothes make a statement? What an understatement that was. Clothes never shut up.

I went from staring at the same four walls for 21 years to seeing the whole world in just 12 months.