Melanie

“In one of the most memorable lines that he ever put on paper, Van Buren wrote, “You might as well turn the current of the Niagara with a ladies fan as to prevent scheming and intrigue at Washington.”
― Ted Widmer

“Memorably, he said, “I had rather have live vermin on my back than the tongue of one of these Washington women on my reputation.”
― Ted Widmer, Martin Van Buren

“At a very practical level, the way Protestantism has often failed to reflect the historical concerns of the church in its liturgy and practice, most obviously in the mega church movement and the manner in which it has frequently adopted the aesthetics of the present moment in its worship is arguably a sign of the penetration of the anticulture into the sanctuary of historic Christianity. Christians today are not opponents of the anticulture. Too often we are the symptoms of it.”
― Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

“First, the panic had struck a death blow at his presidency. Now the slavery debate was turning acrimonious, making normal politics impossible.”
― Ted Widmer, Martin Van Buren