I Suppose This Work Is

But My Later Experience Has Taught Me Two Lessons: First, That Things Are Seen Plainer After The Events Have Occurred; Second, That The Most Confident Critics Are Generally Those Who Know The Least About The Matter Criticised.

I Never Knew What To Do With A Paper Except To Put It In A Side Pocket Or Pass It To A Clerk Who Understood It Better Than I Did.

One Of My Superstitions Had Always Been When I Started To Go Anywhere Or Do Anything, Not To Turn Back, Or Stop Until The Thing Intended Was Accomplished. I Have Frequently Started To Go Places Where I Had Never Been And To Which I Did Not Know The Way, Depending Upon Making Inquiries On The Road, And If I Got Past The Place Without Knowing It, Instead Of Turning Back, I Would Go Until A Road Was Found Turning In The Right Direction, Take That, And Come In By The Other Side.

I Leave Comparisons To History, Claiming Only That I Have Acted In Every Instance From A Conscientious Desire To Do What Was Right, Constitutional, Within The Law, And For The Very Best Interests Of The Whole People. Failures Have Been Errors Of Judgment, Not Of Intent.

In 1856...i Preferred The Success Of A Candidate Whose Election Would Prevent Or Postpone Secession, To Seeing The Country Plunged Into A War The End Of Which No Man Could Foretell. With A Democrat Elected By The Unanimous Vote Of The Slave States, There Could Be No Pretext For Secession For Four Years.... I Therefore Voted For James Buchanan As President.