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A Fellow Once Came To Me To Ask For An Appointment As A Minister Abroad. Finding He Could Not Get That, He Came Down To Some More Modest Position. Finally, He Asked To Be Made A Tide-waiter. When He Saw He Could Not Get That, He Asked Me For An Old Pair Of Trousers. It Is Sometimes Well To Be Humble.

-Abraham Lincoln

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A Fellow Once Came

Abraham Lincoln

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A Fellow Once Came To Me To Ask For An Appointment As A Minister Abroad. Finding He Could Not Get That, He Came Down To Some More Modest Position. Finally, He Asked To Be Made A Tide-waiter. When He Saw He Could Not Get That, He Asked Me For An Old Pair Of Trousers. It Is Sometimes Well To Be Humble.

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You Dislike The Emancipation Proclamation; And, Perhaps, Would Have It Retracted. You Say It Is Unconstitutional - I Think Differently.

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Don't Worry When You Are Not Recognized, But Strive To Be Worthy Of Recognition.

This Is Essentially A People's Contest... Whose Leading Object Is To Elevate The Condition Of Men - To Lift Artificial Weights From All Shoulders - To Clear The Paths Of Laudable Pursuit For All - To Afford All, An Unfettered Start And A Fair Chance, In The Race Of Life.

I Can Hardly Believe That The South And North Can Live In Peace, Unless We Can Get Rid Of The Negroes ... I Believe That It Would Be Better To Export Them All To Some Fertile Country With A Good Climate, Which They Could Have To Themselves.

I Could Not Sleep When I Got On The Hunt For An Idea, Until I Had Caught It. This Was A Kind Of Passion With Me, And It Has Stuck With Me.

None Seemed To Think The Injury Arose From The Use Of A Bad Thing But From The Abuse Of A Very Good Thing

Capital Has Its Rights, Which Are As Worthy Of Protection As Any Other Right.

When You Make It To The Top, Turn And Reach Down For The Person Behind You.

Great Distance In Either Time Or Space Has Wonderful Power To Lull And Render Quiescent The Human Mind.

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In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party.

I Never Knew A Man Who Wished To Be Himself A Slave. Consider If You Know Any Good Thing, That No Man Desires For Himself.

And Having Thus Chosen Our Course, Without Guile, And With Pure Purpose, Let Us Renew Our Trust In God, And Go Forward Without Fear, And With Manly Hearts.

But, Slavery Is Good For Some People! ! ! As A Good Thing, Slavery Is Strikingly Peculiar, In This, That It Is The Only Good Thing Which No Man Ever Seeks The Good Of, For Himself.

Freedom Is The Natural Condition Of The Human Race, In Which The Almighty Intended Men To Live. Those Who Fight The Purpose Of The Almighty Will Not Succeed. They Always Have Been, They Always Will Be Beaten.

The Evacuation Of Petersburg And Richmond, And The Surrender Of The Principal Insurgent Army, Give Hope Of A Righteous And Speedy Peace Whose Joyous Expression Can Not Be Restrained. In The Midst Of This, However, He, From Whom All Blessings Flow, Must Not Be Forgotten. A Call For A National Thanksgiving Is Being Prepared, And Will Be Duly Promulgated.

I Am Slow To Learn And Slow To Forget That Which I Have Learned. My Mind Is Like A Piece Of Steel, Very Hard To Scratch Any Thing On It And Almost Impossible After You Get It There To Rub It Out.

I Am Much Indebted To The Good Christian People Of The Country For Their Constant Prayers And Consolations; And To No One Of Them, More Than To Yourself.

Never Stir Up Litigation, A Worse Man Can Scarcely Be Found Than One Who Does This, Who Can Be More Nearly A Fiend Than He Who Habitually Overhauls The Register Of Deeds In Search Of Defects In Titles, Whereon To Stir Up Strife, And Put Money In His Pocket?

I Trust That As He Shall Further Open The Way, I Will Be Ready To Walk Therein, Relying On His Help And Trusting In His Goodness And Wisdom.

If There Is A Worse Place Than Hell, I Am In It.

Glory To God In The Highest, Ohio Has Saved The Nation.

Human Action Can Be Modified To Some Extent, But Human Nature Can Not Be Changed

Words Of Wisdom

Towering Genius Disdains A Beaten Path ... It Scorns To Tread In The Footsteps Of Any Predecessor, However Illustrious. It Thirsts For Distinction.

A Lawyer's Time And Advice Are His(her) Stock In Trade.

As A Nation, We Began By Declaring That 'all Men Are Created Equal.' We Now Practically Read It 'all Men Are Created Equal, Except Negroes.' When The Know-nothings Get Control, It Will Read 'all Men Are Created Equal, Except Negroes, And Foreigners, And Catholics.' When It Comes To This I Should Prefer Emigrating To Some Country Where They Make No Pretense Of Loving Liberty – To Russia, For Instance, Where Despotism Can Be Taken Pure, And Without The Base Alloy Of Hypocrisy.

You Have More Of A Feeling Of Personal Resentment Than I Have. Perhaps, I Have Too Little Of It, But I Never Thought It Paid.

Be With A Leader When He Is Right, Stay With Him When He Is Still Right, But, Leave Him When He Is Wrong.

A Capacity And Taste For Reading Gives Access To Whatever Has Already Been Discovered By Others.

Near Eighty Years Ago We Began By Declaring That All Men Are Created Equal; But Now From That Beginning We Have Run Down To The Other Declaration, That For Some Men To Enslave Others Is A "sacred Right Of Self-government." These Principles Can Not Stand Together. They Are As Opposite As God And Mammon; And Whoever Holds To The One, Must Despise The Other.

Woe Unto The World Because Of Offenses; For It Must Needs Be That Offenses Come, But Woe To That Man By Whom The Offense Cometh.

Violence Begins Where Knowledge Ends.

Always Remember: Life Is For Enjoying.

Inspirational Life

The Probability That We May Fail In The Struggle Ought Not To Deter Us From The Support Of A Cause We Believe To Be Just.

If I Were To Try To Read, Much Less Answer, All The Attacks Made On Me, This Shop Might As Well Be Closed For Any Other Business. I Do The Very Best I Know How - The Very Best I Can; And I Mean To Keep Doing So Until The End. If The End Brings Me Out All Right, What's Said Against Me Won't Amount To Anything. If The End Brings Me Out Wrong, Ten Angels Swearing I Was Right Would Make No Difference.

The President Responded Very Impressively, Saying That He Was Deeply Sensible Of His Need Of Divine Assistance. He Had Sometime Thought That Perhaps He Might Be An Instrument In God's Hands Of Accomplishing A Great Work And He Certainly Was Not Unwilling To Be. Perhaps, However, God's Way Of Accomplishing The End Which The Memorialists Have In View May Be Different From Theirs.

With Malice Towards None; With Charity For All.

Every Man Is Born An Original, But Sadly, Most Men Die Copies.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition.

Whatever уоu Are, Bе а Good One.

All My Life I Have Tried To Pluck A Thistle And Plant A Flower Wherever The Flower Would Grow In Thought And Mind.

I Would Save The Union. I Would Save It The Shortest Way Under The Constitution. The Sooner The National Authority Can Be Restored; The Nearer The Union Will Be 'the Union As It Was'.

I Think To Lose Kentucky Is Nearly The Same As To Lose The Whole Game.

My Faith In The Proposition That Each Man Should Do Precisely As He Pleases With All Which Is Exclusively His Own Lies At The Foundation Of The Sense Of Justice There Is In Me.

Always Let Your Subordinates Know That The Honor Will Be All Theirs If They Succeed And The Blame Will Be Yours If They Fail.

I Find Quite As Much Material For A Lecture In Those Points Wherein I Have Failed, As In Those Wherein I Have Been Moderately Successful.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition. Whether It Be True Or Not, I Can Say For One That I Have No Other So Great As That Of Being Truly Esteemed Of My Fellow Men, By Rendering Myself Worthy Of Their Esteem.

When I Have A Particular Case In Hand, I Have That Motive And Feel An Interest In The Case, Feel An Interest In Ferreting Out The Questions To The Bottom, Love To Dig Up The Question By The Roots And Hold It Up And Dry It Before The Fires Of The Mind.

Tact Is The Ability To Describe Others As They See Themselves.

There Is A Vague Popular Belief That Lawyers Are Necessarily Dishonest. I Say Vague, Because When We Consider To What Extent Confidence And Honors Are Reposed In And Conferred Upon Lawyers By The People, It Appears Improbable That Their Impression Of Dishonesty Is Very Distinct And Vivid. Yet The Impression Is Common, Almost Universal.

Let Us Re-adopt The Declaration Of Independence, And With It, The Practices, And Policy, Which Harmonize With It. Let North And South - Let All Americans - Let All Lovers Of Liberty Everywhere - Join In The Great And Good Work. If We Do This, We Shall Not Only Have Saved The Union; But We Shall Have So Saved It, As To Make, And To Keep It, Forever Worthy Of The Saving. We Shall Have So Saved It, That The Succeeding Millions Of Free Happy People, The World Over, Shall Rise Up, And Call Us Blessed, To The Latest Generations.

All Creation Is A Mine, And Every Man A Miner. The Whole Earth, And All Within It, Upon It, And Round About It, Including Himself ... Are The Infinitely Various "leads" From Which, Man, From The First, Was To Dig Out His Destiny.

Government, Possessing The Power To Create And Issue Currency And Credit As Money And Enjoying The Right To Withdraw Both Currency And Credit From Circulation By Taxation And Otherwise, Need Not And Should Not Borrow Capital At Interest As A Means Of Financing Government Work And Public Enterprises.

I Failed, I Failed, And That Is About All That Can Be Said About It.

Let Reverence For The Laws, Be Breathed By Every American Mother, To The Lisping Babe, That Prattles On Her Lap - Let It Be Taught In Schools, In Seminaries, And In Colleges; Let It Be Written In Primmers, Spelling Books, And In Almanacs; Let It Be Preached From The Pulpit, Proclaimed In Legislative Halls, And Enforced In Courts Of Justice.

I Have Always Believed That A Good Laugh Was Good For Both The Mental And Physical Digestion.

Those Who Are Ready To Sacrifice Freedom For Security Ultimately Will Lose Both.

Ballots Are The Rightful And Peaceful Successors To Bullets.

I Affect No Contempt For The High Eminence He [senator Stephen Douglas] Has Reached. So Reached, That The Oppressed Of My Species,might Have Shared With Me In The Elevation, I Would Rather Stand On That Eminence, Than Wear The Richest Crown That Ever Pressed A Monarch's Brow.

If You Would Win A Man To Your Cause, First Convince Him That You Are His Sincere Friend.

I Know That The Lord Is Always On The Side Of The Right. But It Is My Constant Anxiety And Prayer That I And This Nation Should Be On The Lord's Side.

But I Must Add That The U.s. Government Must Not, As By This Order, Undertake To Run The Churches. When An Individual, In A Church Or Out Of It, Becomes Dangerous To The Public Interest, He Must Be Checked; But Let The Churches, As Such Take Care Of Themselves. It Will Not Do For The U.s. To Appoint Trustees, Supervisors, Or Other Agents For The Churches.

I Hope To Stand Firm Enough To Not Go Backward, And Yet Not Go Forward Fast Enough To Wreck The Country's Cause.

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Nevertheless, Amid The Greatest Difficulties Of My Administration, When I Could Not See Any Other Resort, I Would Place My Whole Reliance On God, Knowing That All Would Go Well, And That He Would Decide For The Right.

Do The People Of The South Really Entertain Fears That A Republican Administration Would, Directly, Or Indirectly, Interfere With Their Slaves, Or With Them, About Their Slaves? If They Do, I Wish To Assure You, As Once A Friend, And Still, I Hope, Not An Enemy, That There Is No Cause For Such Fears.

We Must Believe That He Permits It [this War] For Some Wise Purpose Of His Own, Mysterious And Unknown To Us; And Though With Ourlimited Understandings We May Not Be Able To Comprehend It, Yet We Cannot But Believe, That He Who Made The World Still Governs It.

In The Way Our Fathers Originally Left The Slavery Question, The Institution Was In The Course Of Ultimate Extinction, And The Public Mind Rested In The Belief That It Was In The Course Of Ultimate Extinction . . . . All I Have Asked Or Desired Anywhere, Is That It Should Be Placed Back Again Upon The Basis That The Fathers Of Our Government Originally Placed It Upon.

May The Almighty Grant That The Cause Of Truth, Justice, And Humanity, Shall In No Wise Suffer At My Hands.

It Is For Us And Our Time...to Say The Right Makes Might.

I Am For . . . Each Individual Doing Just As He Chooses In All Matters Which Concern Nobody Else.

If I Could Save The Union Without Freeing Any Slave, I Would Do It; And If I Could Save It By Freeing All The Slaves, I Would Do It; And If I Could Do It By Freeing Some And Leaving Others Alone, I Would Do That. I Have Here Stated My Purpose According To My Official Duty, And I Intend No Modification Of My Oft-expressed Personal Wish That All Men, Everywhere, Could Be Free.

Teach Hope To All, Despair To None.

The People Themselves, And Not Their Servants, Can Safely Reverse Their Own Deliberate Decisions.

Must I Shoot A Simple-minded Soldier Boy Who Deserts, While I Must Not Touch A Hair Of The Wily Agitator Who Induces Him To Desert? I Think That In Such A Cse To Silence The Agitator And Save The Boy Is Not Only Constitutional But Withal A Great Mercy.

The Legitimate Object Of Government Is To Do For A Community Of People Whatever They Need To Have Done, But Can Not Do At All, Or Can Not So Well Do, For Themselves – In Their Separate, And Individual Capacities.

In A Certain Sense, And To A Certain Extent, He [the President] Is The Representative Of The People. He Is Elected By Them, As Well As Congress Is. But Can He, In The Nature [of] Things, Know The Wants Of The People, As Well As Three Hundred Other Men, Coming From All The Various Localities Of The Nation? If So, Where Is The Propriety Of Having A Congress?

If We Cannot Give Freedom To Every Creature, Let Us Do Nothing That Will Impose Slavery Upon Any Other Creature.

I Would Like To Speak In Terms Of Praise Due To The Many Brave Officers And Soldiers Who Have Fought In The Cause Of The War.

Military Glory-that Attractive Rainbow, That Rises In Showers Of Blood-that Serpent's Eye, That Charms To Destroy.

At The Beginning Of The War, And For Some Time, The Use Of Colored Troops Was Not Contemplated; And How The Change Of Purpose Was Wrought, I Will Not Now Take Time To Explain. Upon A Clear Conviction Of Duty I Resolved To Turn That Element Of Strength To Account; And I Am Responsible For It To The American People, To The Christian World, To History, And On My Final Account To God.

Surely God Would Not Have Created Such A Being As Man, With An Ability To Grasp The Infinite, To Exist Only For A Day! No, No, Man Was Made For Immortality.

Capital Is Only The Fruit Of Labor, And Could Never Have Existed If Labor Had Not First Existed. Labor Is The Superior Ofcapital, And Deserves Muchthe Higher Consideration.

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

By All Means, Don't Say, "if I Can," Say "i Will."

People Are Just As Happy As They Choose To Be.

Free Labor Has The Inspiration Of Hope; Pure Slavery Has No Hope.

Upon The Subject Of Education, Not Presuming To Dictate Any Plan Or System Respecting It, I Can Only Say That I View It As The Most Important Subject Which We As A People Can Be Engaged In. That Every Man May Receive At Least A Moderate Education...appears To Be An Object Of Vital Importance...

The Land-grant University System Is Being Built On Behalf Of The People, Who Have Invested In These Public Universities Their Hopes, Their Support, And Their Confidence.

Sending Armies To Mcclellan Is Like Shoveling Fleas Across A Barnyard, Not Half Of Them Get There.

Don't Kneel To Me, That Is Not Right. You Must Kneel To God Only, And Thank Him For The Liberty You Will Hereafter Enjoy.

Almost Every Thing, Especially Of Governmental Policy, Is An Inseparable Compound Of The Two [good And Evil].

The Way For A Young Man To Rise Is To Improve Himself In Every Way He Can, Never Suspecting That Anybody Wishes To Hinder Him.

I Am In Favor Of Animal Rights As Well As Human Rights. That Is The Way Of A Whole Human Being.

If Any Personal Description Of Me Is Thought Desirable, It May Be Said, I Am, In Height, Six Feet, Four Inches, Nearly; Lean In Flesh, Weighing On An Average One Hundred And Eighty Pounds; Dark Complexion, With Coarse Black Hair, And Grey Eyes -- No Other Marks Or Brands Recollected.

The Severest Justice May Not Always Be The Best Policy

My Father, At The Death Of His Father, Was But Six Years Of Age; And He Grew Up, Literally Without Education.

As To The Whiskers, Having Never Worn Any, Do You Not Think People Would Call It A Piece Of Silly Affectation If I Were To Begin It Now?

I Couldn't Be Two Faced. If I Had Two Faces, I Wouldn't Wear This One.

I Was Raised To Farm Work.

When I Came Of Age I Did Not Know Much. Still Somehow, I Could Read, Write, And Cipher To The Rule Of Three.... The Little Advancei Now Have Upon This Store Of Education, I Have Picked Up From Time To Time Under The Pressure Of Necessity.

I Do, Therefore, Invite My Fellow Citizens . . . To Set Apart And Observe The Last Thursday Of November Next, As A Day Of Thanksgiving And Praise To Our Beneficent Father Who Dwelleth In The Heavens.

I Have Seen Your Despatch Expressing Your Unwillingness To Break Your Hold Where You Are. Neither Am I Willing. Hold On With A Bull-dog Gripe, And Chew & Choke, As Much As Possible.

[t]he Man Who, In The Concrete Pressure Of A Struggle For National Independence By A Single People, Had The Coolness, Forecast, And Capacity To Introduce Into A Merely Revolutionary Document, An Abstract Truth, Applicable To All Men And All Times, And So To Embalm It There, That To-day, And In All Coming Days, It Shall Be A Rebuke And A Stumbling-block To The Very Harbingers Of Reappearing Tyranny And Oppression.

When I Lay Down The Reins Of This Administration, I Want To Have One Friend Left. And That Friend Is Myself.

In The First Place, I Insist That Our Fathers Did Not Make This Nation Half Slave And Half Free, Or Part Slave And Part Free. I Insist That They Found The Institution Of Slavery Existing Here. They Did Not Make It So, But They Left It So Because They Knew Of No Way To Get Rid Of It At That Time.

The Best Way To Get A Bad Law Repealed Is To Enforce It Strictly.

When We Were The Political Slaves Of King George, And Wanted To Be Free, We Called The Maxim That "all Men Are Created Equal" A Self Evident Truth; But Now When We Have Grown Fat, And Have Lost All Dread Of Being Slaves Ourselves, We Have Become So Greedy To Be Masters That We Call The Same Maxim "a Self Evident Lie" The Fourth Of July Has Not Quite Dwindled Away; It Is Still A Great Day-for Burning Fire-crackers!!!

I Shall Do Less Whenever I Shall Believe What I Am Doing Hurts The Cause And I Shall Do More Whenever I Shall Believe Doing More Will Help The Cause. I Shall Try To Correct Errors When Shown To Be Errors And I Shall Adopt New Views So Fast As They Shall Appear To Be True Views.

These Men Ask For Just The Same Thing, Fairness, And Fairness Only. This, So Far As In My Power, They, And All Others, Shall Have.

Be Sure You Put Your Feet In The Right Place, Then Stand Firm.

Now, I Confess Myself As Belonging To That Class In The Country Who Contemplate Slavery As A Moral, Social And Political Evil, Having Due Regard For Its Actual Existence Amongst Us And The Difficulties Of Getting Rid Of It In Any Satisfactory Way, And To All The Constitutional Obligations Which Have Been Thrown About It; But, Nevertheless, Desire A Policy That Looks To The Prevention Of It As A Wrong, And Looks Hopefully To The Time When As A Wrong It May Come To An End.

It Is To Deny, What The History Of The World Tells Us Is True, To Suppose That Men Of Ambition And Talents Will Not Continue To Spring Up Amongst Us. And, When They Do, They Will As Naturally Seek The Gratification Of Their Ruling Passion, As Others Have So Done Before Them.

The Damnest Scoundrel That Ever Lived, But In The Infinite Mercy Of Providence... Also The Damnest Fool.

I Appeal To All Loyal Citizens To Favor, Facilitate And Aid This Effort To Maintain The Honor, The Integrity, And The Existence Of Our National Union, And The Perpetuity Of Popular Government; And To Redress Wrongs Already Long Enough Endured.

Towering Genius Distains A Beaten Path.

I Claim Not To Have Controlled Events, But Confess Plainly That Events Have Controlled Me.

Labor Is The Superior Of Capital, And Deserves Much The Higher Consideration

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

I Think That If Anything Can Be Proved By Natural Theology, It Is That Slavery Is Morally Wrong. God Gave Man A Mouth To Receive Bread, Hands To Feed It, And His Hand Has A Right To Carry Bread To His Mouth Without Controversy.

Peace Does Not Appear So Distant As It Did. I Hope It Will Come Soon, And Come To Stay; And So Come As To Be Worth The Keeping In All Future Time.

As A General Rule Never Take Your Whole Fee In Advance, Nor Any More Than A Small Retainer. When Fully Paid Beforehand, You Are More Than A Common Mortal If You Can Feel The Same Interest In The Case, As If Something Was Still In Prospect For You, As Well As For Your Client.

I Hold That If The Almighty Had Ever Made A Set Of Men That Should Do All The Eating And None Of The Work, He Would Have Made Them With Mouths Only And No Hands, And If He Had Ever Made Another Class That He Intended Should Do All The Work And None Of The Eating, He Would Have Made Them Without Mouths And With All Hands.

Things May Come To Those Who Wait, But Only The Things Left By Those Who Hustle.

I Was Born And Have Ever Remaind [sic] In The Most Humble Walks Of Life.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

Let Us At All Times Remember That All American Citizens Are Brothers Of A Common Country, And Should Dwell Together In Bonds Of Fraternal Feeling.

I Pray That Our Heavenly Father May Assuage The Anguish Of Your Bereavement, And Leave You Only The Cherished Memory Of The Loved And Lost, And The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours, To Have Laid So Costly A Sacrifice Upon The Altar Of Freedom.

I Cannot Imagine Anyone Looking At The Sky And Denying God.

We Should Avoid Planting And Cultivating Too Many Thorns In The Bosom Of Society.

I Have No Purpose To Introduce Political And Social Equality Between The White And Black Races. There Is Physical Difference Between The Two Which, In My Judgment, Will Probably Forever Forbid Their Living Together Upon The Footing Of Perfect Equality, And Inasmuch As It Becomes A Necessity That There Must Be A Difference, I, As Well As Judge Douglas, Am In Favor Of The Race To Which I Belong Having The Superior Position.

Let Every American, Every Lover Of Liberty, Every Well Wisher To His Posterity, Swear By The Blood Of The Revolution, Never To Violate In The Least Particular, The Laws Of The Country; And Never To Tolerate Their Violation By Others.

Well, I Wish Some Of You Would Tell Me The Brand Of Whiskey That Grant Drinks. I Would Like To Send A Barrel Of It To My Other Generals.

Our Political Problem Now Is, "can We As A Nation Continue Together Permanently - Forever - Half Slave And Half Free?"

Both Parties Deprecated War; But One Of Them Would Make War Rather Than Let The Nation Survive; And The Other Would Accept War Rather Than Let It Perish. And The War Came.

Lonely Men Seek Companionship. Lonely Women Sit At Home And Wait. They Never Meet.

On The Whole, My Impression Is That Mercy Bears Richer Fruits Than Any Other Attribute.

If A Man Will Stand Up And Assert, And Repeat And Re-assert, That Two And Two Do Not Make Four, I Know Nothing In The Power Of Argument That Can Stop Him.

Those Who Deny Freedom To Others Deserve It Not For Themselves.

A Child Is A Person Who Is Going To Carry On What You Have Started ... The Fate Of Humanity Is In His Hands.

This Country, With Its Institutions, Belongs To The People Who Inhabit It.

Constitution Of The United States

And Whereas This House Desires To Obtain A Full Knowledge Of All The Facts Which Go To Establish Whether The Particular Spot Of Soil Which The Blood Of Our Citizens Was So Shed Was, Or Was Not, Our Own Soil.

We Shall Meanly Lose Or Nobly Save The Last Hope Of Earth.

Those Who Look For The Bad In People Will Surely Find It.

I Am Absent Altogether Too Much To Be A Suitable Instructor For A Law-student. When A Man Has Reached The Age That Mr. Widner Has,and Has Already Been Doing For Himself, My Judgment Is, That He Reads The Books For Himself Without An Instructor. That Is Precisely The Way I Came To The Law.

Without Divine Assistance I Can Not Succeed; With It I Can Not Fail.

Such A Man The Times Have Demanded, And Such, In The Providence Of God Was Given Us. But He Is Gone. Let Us Strive To Deserve, As Far As Mortals May, The Continued Care Of Divine Providence, Trusting That, In Future National Emergencies, He Will Not Fail To Provide Us The Instruments Of Safety And Security.

If I Am Killed, I Can Die By Once; But To Live In Constant Dread Of It, Is To Die Over And Over Again.

As To Your Kind Wishes For Myself, Allow Me To Say I Can Not Enter The Ring On The Money Basis--first, Because, In The Main, It Iswrong; And Secondly, I Have Not, And Can Not Get, The Money. I Say, In The Main, The Use Of Money Is Wrong; But For Certain Objects, In A Political Contest, The Use Of Some, Is Both Right, And Indispensable.

. . . Peace Is A Thing Which A Person Must Be Willing To Fight For . . .

In Law It Is Good Policy To Never Plead What You Need Not, Lest You Oblige Yourself To Prove What You Can Not.

Politicians Are A Set Of Men Who Have Interests Aside From The Interests Of The People And Who, To Say The Most Of Them, Are, Taken As A Mass, At Least One Long Step Removed From Honest Men

Half Finished Work Generally Proves To Be Labor Lost.

The Dogmas Of The Quiet Past Are Inadequate To The Stormy Present. The Occasion Is Piled High With Difficulty, And We Must Rise To The Occasion. We Cannot Escape History. We Will Be Remembered In Spite Of Ourselves. The Fiery Trial Through Which We Pass Will Light Us Down In Honour Or Dishonour, To The Last Generation. We Shall Nobly Save, Or Meanly Lose, Our Last Best Hope Of Earth.

If I Could Save The Union Without Freeing Any Slave, I Would Do It.

Writing, The Art Of Communicating Thoughts To The Mind Through The Eye, Is The Great Invention Of The World.

A New Book Is Like A Friend That I Have Yet To Meet

If We Know Where We Are And Something About How We Got There, We Might See Where We Are Trending - And If The Outcomes Which Lie Naturally In Our Course Are Unacceptable, To Make Timely Change.

You Cannot Bring About Prosperity By Discouraging Thrift. You Cannot Establish Sound Security On Borrowed Money. You Cannot Keep Out Of Trouble By Spending More Than You Earn.

I Therefore Consider That In View Of The Constitution And The Laws, The Union Is Unbroken; And To The Extent Of My Ability I Shall Take Care, As The Constitution Itself Expressly Enjoins Upon Me, That The Laws Of The Union Be Faithfully Executed In All The States.

Adversity Does Not Make Us Frail; It Only Shows Us How Frail We Are.

With Malice Toward None, With Charity For All, With Firmness In The Right, As God Gives Us To See The Right, Let Us Strive On To Finish The Work We Are In, To Bind Up The Nation's Wounds.

The Ballot Is Stronger Than The Bullet.

Democracies Have

All Creation Is A Mine, And Every Man A Miner.

Nobody Has Ever Expected Me To Be President. In My Poor, Lean, Lank Face, Nobody Has Ever Seen That Any Cabbages Were Sprouting Out.

Never Stir Up Litigation. A Worse Man Can Scarcely Be Found Than One Who Does This.

I Think That God Means That We Shall Do More Than We Have Yet Done In Furtherance Of His Plans And He Will Open The Way For Our Doing It.

Liquor May Have Its Defenders, But It Has No Defense.

Dear Sir: Yours Of The 24th. Asking 'the Best Mode Of Obtaining A Thorough Knowledge Of The Law' Is Received. The Mode Is Very Simple, Though Laborious, And Tedious. It Is Only To Get The Books, And Read, And Study Them Carefully. Begin With Blackstone's Commentaries, And After Reading It Carefully Through, Say Twice, Take Up Chitty's Pleading, Greenleaf's Evidence, & Story's Equity &c. In Succession. Work, Work, Work, Is The Main Thing.

Man Is Not The Only Animal Who Labors; But He Is The Only One Who Improves His Workmanship.

I Say Now, However, As I Have All The While Said, That On The Territorial Question - That Is, The Question Of Extending Slavery Under The National Auspices, - I Am Inflexible. I Am For No Compromise Which Assists Or Permits The Extension Of The Institution On Soil Owned By The Nation.

If I Have One Vice And I Can Call It Nothing Else It Is Not Able To Say 'no'.

My Dear Mcclellan, If You Don't Want To Use The Army I Should Like To Borrow It For A While. Yours Respectfully.

All Things Desirable To Men Are Contained In The Bible.

We Will Make Converts Day By Day; We Will Grow Strong By The Violence And Injustice Of Our Adversaries. And, Unless Truth Be A Mockery And Justice A Hollow Lie, We Will Be In The Majority After A While.

Freedom Is Not The Right To Do What We Want, But What We Ought

I Know There Is A God, And That He Hates Injustice And Slavery. I See The Storm Coming, And I Know That His Hand Is In It. If He Has A Place And Work For Me - And I Think He Has - I Believe I Am Ready.

Next Came The Patent Laws. These Began In England In 1624; And, In This Country, With The Adoption Of Our Constitution. Before Then [these?], Any Man Might Instantly Use What Another Had Invented; So That The Inventor Had No Special Advantage From His Own Invention. The Patent System Changed This; Secured To The Inventor, For A Limited Time, The Exclusive Use Of His Invention; And Thereby Added The Fuel Of Interest To The Fire Of Genius, In The Discovery And Production Of New And Useful Things.

Every One Desires To Live Long, But No One Would Be Old.

The Principles Of Jefferson Are The Definitions And Axioms Of Free Society.

Our Attitude Is More Honest And More Consistent Than Our Words.

Now What Is Judge Douglas Popular Sovereignty? It Is, As A Principle, No Other Than That, If One Man Chooses To Make A Slave Of Another Man, Neither That Other Man Nor Anybody Else Has A Right To Object.

No Man Who Is Resolved To Make The Most Of Himself Can Spare Time For Personal Contention, Still Less Can He Afford To Take The Consequences, Including The Vitiation Of His Temper And The Loss Of Self Control, Yield To Larger Things To Which You Show No More Than Equal Rights, And Yield To Lesser Ones Though Clearly Your Own, Better Give Your Path To A Dog, Than Be Bitten By Him In Contesting For The Right, Not Even Killing The Dog, Will Cure The Bite

Its Authors Meant It To Be... A Stumbling Block To Those Who In After Times Might Seek To Turn A Free People Back Into The Hateful Paths Of Despotism. They Knew The Proneness Of Prosperity To Breed Tyrants, And They Meant When Such Should Re-appear In This Fair Land And Commence Their Vocation They Should Find Left For Them At Least One Hard Nut To Crack.

We Should Be Too Big To Take Offense And Too Noble To Give It.

Don't Be Fooled. I Kept All My Workout Clothes In That Top Hat.

I Think I Stand Where That Man Stands.

Better Give Your Path To A Dog Than Be Bitten By Him In Contesting For The Right. Even Killing The Dog Would Not Cure The Bite

In Your Hands, My Dissatisfied Fellow Countrymen, And Not In Mine, Is The Momentous Issue Of Civil War. The Government Will Not Assail You.... You Have No Oath Registered In Heaven To Destroy The Government, While I Shall Have The Most Solemn One To Preserve, Protect And Defend It.

The Power Confided In Me Will Be Used To Hold, Occupy And Possess The Property And Places Belonging To The Government, And To Collect The Duties And Imposts.

It Is The Man Who Does Not Want To Express An Opinion Whose Opinion I Want.

Allow Me To Assure You, That Suspicion And Jealousy Never Did Help Any Man In Any Situation.

I Believe, If We Take Habitual Drunkards As A Class, Their Heads And Their Hearts Will Bear An Advantageous Comparison With Those Of Any Other Class. There Seems Ever To Have Been A Proneness In The Brilliant And Warm-blooded To Fall Into This Vice.

I Have Had So Many Evidences Of [god's] Direction, So Many Instances When I Have Been Controlled By Some Other Power Than My Own Will, That I Cannot Doubt That This Power Comes From Above.

Evidence Of God

If I Were Two-faced, Would I Be Wearing This One?

There Is Nothing True Anywhere, The True Is Nowhere To Be Seen; If You Say You See The True, This Seeing Is Not The True One.

I Have Always Wanted To Deal With Everyone I Meet Candidly And Honestly. If I Have Made Any Assertion Not Warranted By Facts, And It Is Pointed Out To Me, I Will Withdraw It Cheerfully.

Human-nature Will Not Change.

I Have An Irrepressible Desire To Live Till I Can Be Assured That The World Is A Little Better For My Having Lived In It.

Famous Inspirational

I Wish To See, In Process Of Disappearing, That Only Thing Which Ever Could Bring This Nation To Civil War.

We Know, Southern Men Declare That Their Slaves Are Better Off Than Hired Laborers Amongst Us. How Little They Know, Whereof They Speak! There Is No Permanent Class Of Hired Laborers Amongst Us. Twenty-five Years Ago, I Was A Hired Laborer. The Hired Laborer Of Yesterday, Labors On His Own Account Today; And Will Hire Others To Labor For Him Tomorrow.

Again I Admonish You Not To Be Turned From Your Stern Purpose Of Defending Your Beloved Country And Its Free Institutions By Any Arguments Urged By Ambitious And Designing Men, But Stand Fast To The Union And The Old Flag.

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