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And, Inasmuch [as] Most Good Things Are Produced By Labour, It Follows That All Such Things Of Right Belong To Those Whose Labour Has Produced Them. But It Has So Happened In All Ages Of The World, That Some Have Laboured, And Others Have, Without Labour, Enjoyed A Large Proportion Of The Fruits. This Is Wrong, And Should Not Continue. To [secure] To Each Labourer The Whole Product Of His Labour, Or As Nearly As Possible, Is A Most Worthy Object Of Any Good Government.

-Abraham Lincoln

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And, Inasmuch [as] Most

Abraham Lincoln

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And, Inasmuch [as] Most Good Things Are Produced By Labour, It Follows That All Such Things Of Right Belong To Those Whose Labour Has Produced Them. But It Has So Happened In All Ages Of The World, That Some Have Laboured, And Others Have, Without Labour, Enjoyed A Large Proportion Of The Fruits. This Is Wrong, And Should Not Continue. To [secure] To Each Labourer The Whole Product Of His Labour, Or As Nearly As Possible, Is A Most Worthy Object Of Any Good Government.

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If The Union Of These States, And The Liberties Of This People, Shall Be Lost, It Is But Little To Any One Man Of Fifty-two Yearsof Age, But A Great Deal To The Thirty Millions Of People Who Inhabit These United States, And To Their Posterity In All Coming Time.

We All Declare For Liberty, But In Using The Same Word We Do Not All Mean The Same Thing.

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.

A Universal Feeling, Whether Well Or Ill Founded, Cannot Be Safely Disregarded.

The Eyes Of That Species Of Extinct Giant, Whose Bones Fill The Mounds Of America, Have Gazed On Niagara As Our Eyes Do Now.

One Eighth Of The Whole Population Were Colored Slaves, Not Distributed Generally Over The Union, But Localized In The Southern Part Of It. These Slaves Constituted A Peculiar And Powerful Interest. All Knew That This Interest Was, Somehow, The Cause Of The War.

This Country, With Its Institutions, Belongs To The People Who Inhabit It. Whenever They Shall Grow Weary Of The Existing Government, They Can Exercise Their Constitutional Right Of Amending It, Or Exercise Their Revolutionary Right To Overthrow It.

I Am The President Of The United States Of America, Clothed In Immense Power! You Will Procure Me These Votes.

Now We Are Engaged In A Great Civil War, Testing Whether That Nation, Or Any Nation So Conceived And So Dedicated, Can Long Endure.

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

In This Troublesome World, We Are Never Quite Satisfied. When You Were Here, I Thought You Hindered Me Some In Attending To Business; But Now, Having Nothing But Business---no Variety---it Has Grown Exceedingly Tasteless To Me. I Hate To Sit Down And Direct Documents, And I Hate To Stay In This Old Room By Myself.

Take All That You Can Of This Book Upon Reason, And The Balance On Faith, And You Will Live And Die A Happier Man. (when A Skeptic Expressed Surprise To See Him Reading A Bible)

Quarrel Not At All. No Man Resolved To Make The Most Of Himself Can Spare Time For Personal Contention.

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.

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

He [stephen Douglas] Is Blowing Out The Moral Lights Around Us, When He Contends That Whoever Wants Slaves Has A Right To Hold Them; That He Is Penetrating, So Far As Lies In His Power, The Human Soul, And Eradicating The Light Of Reason And The Love Of Liberty, When He Is In Every Possible Way Preparing The Public Mind, By His Vast Influence, For Making The Institution Of Slavery Perpetual And National.

Both Read The Same Bible, And Pray To The Same God; And Each Invokes His Aid Against The Other. It May Seem Strange That Any Men Should Dare To Ask A Just God's Assistance In Wringing Their Bread From The Sweat Of Other Men's Faces; But Let Us Judge Not That We Be Not Judged. The Prayers Of Both Could Not Be Answered; That Of Neither Has Been Answered Fully.

The Leading Rule For A Man Of Every Calling Is Diligence; Never Put Off Until Tomorrow What You Can Do Today.

That On The First Day Of January, In The Year Of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred Ans Sixty-three, All Persons Held As Slaves Within Any State Or Designated Part Of A State, The People Whereof Shall Then Be In Rebellion Against The United States, Shall Be Then, Thence Forward, And Forever Free.

Our Government Rests In Public Opinion. Whoever Can Change Public Opinion, Can Change The Government, Practically Just So Much.

I Do Not Think Much Of A Man Who Is Not Wiser Today Than He Was Yesterday.

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

I Am A Patient Man--always Willing To Forgive On The Christian Terms Of Repentance, And Also To Give Ample Time For Repentance. Still, I Must Save This Government, If Possible. What I Cannot Do, Of Course I Will Not Do, But It May As Well Be Understood, Once For All, That I Shall Not Surrender This Game Leaving Any Available Card Unplayed.

I Believe Each Individual Is Naturally Entitled To Do As He Pleases With Himself And The Fruit Of His Labor, So Far As It In No Wise Interferes With Any Other Mans Rightsthat Each Community, As A State, Has A Right To Do Exactly As It Pleases With All The Concerns Within That State That Interfere With The Right Of No Other State, And That The General Government, Upon Principle, Has No Right To Interfere With Anything Other Than That General Class Of Things That Does Concern The Whole.

I Hold, That In Contemplation Of Universal Law, And Of The Constitution, The Union Of These States Is Perpetual.

I Will Prepare And Some Day My Chance Will Come.

You Are Young, And I Am Older; You Are Hopeful, I Am Not- Enjoy Life, Ere It Grow Colder- Pluck The Roses Ere They Rot.

Whatever Spiteful Fools May Say, Each Jealous Ranting Yelper, No Woman Ever Went Astray, Without A Man To Help Her

Writing Is The Great Invention Of The World.

Great Inventions

What Constitutes The Bulwark Of Our Own Liberty And Independence?

So Plain That No One, High Or Low, Ever Does Mistake It, Except In A Plainly Selfish Way; For Although Volume Upon Volume Is Written To Prove Slavery A Very Good Thing, We Never Hear Of The Man Who Wishes To Take The Good Of It, By Being A Slave Himself.

Capital Has Its Proper Place And Is Entitled To Every Protection. The Wages Of Men Should Be Recognized In The Structure Of And In The Social Order As More Important Than The Wages Of Money [interest].

Wanting To Work Is So Rare A Merit, That It Should Be Encouraged.

Four Score And Seven Years Ago Our Fathers Brought Forth On This Continent, A New Nation, Conceived In Liberty, And Dedicated To The Proposition That All Men Are Created Equal.

Let Us Diligently Apply The Means, Never Doubting That A Just God, In His Own Good Time, Will Give Us The Rightful Result.

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.

You Must Remember That Some Things Legally Right Are Not Morally Right.

In Giving Freedom To The Slave, We Assure Freedom To The Free.

Congress And The President

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

Legislation And Adjudication Must Follow, And Conform To, The Progress Of Society.

Progress Of Society

If It Were Not For My Firm Belief In An Overruling Providence, It Would Be Difficult For Me, In The Midst Of Such Complications Of Affairs, To Keep My Reason On Its Seat. But I Am Confident That The Almighty Has His Plans, And Will Work Them Out; And, Whether We See It Or Not, They Will Be The Best For Us.

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.

With High Hope For The Future, No Prediction Is Ventured.

Hope For The Future

Oh, That [his Thanksgiving Message] Is Some Of Seward's Nonsense, And It Pleases The Fools.

Determine That The Thing Can And Shall Be Done And Then... Find The Way.

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

Labor Is Prior To, And Independent Of, Capital. Capital Is Only The Fruit Of Labor, And Could Never Have Existed If Labor Had Not First Existed. Labor Is The Superior Of Capital, And Deserves Much The Higher Consideration.

I Am An Optimist Because I Don't See The Point In Being Anything Else.

Familiarize Yourself With The Chains Of Bondage And You Prepare Your Own Limbs To Wear Them.

I Shall Be Most Happy Indeed If I Shall Be An Humble Instrument In The Hands Of The Almighty, And Of This His Almost Chosen People.

You Must Think I Am A High-priced Man.... Fifteen Dollars Is Enough For The Job. I Send You A Receipt For Fifteen Dollars, And Return To You A Ten-dollar Bill.

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

We Better Know There Is A Fire Whence We See Much Smoke Rising Than We Could Know It By One Or Two Witnesses Swearing To It. The Witnesses May Commit Perjury, But The Smoke Cannot.

While I Am Deeply Sensible To The High Compliment Of A Re-election; And Duly Grateful, As I Trust, To Almighty God For Having Directed My Countrymen To A Right Conclusion, As I Think, For Their Own Good, It Adds Nothing To My Satisfaction That Any Other Man May Be Disappointed Or Pained By The Result.

I Shall Always Think Of Myself First And Foremost... As A Hunter.

But For That Book, We Could Not Know Right From Wrong.

Negro Equality, Fudge!! How Long In The Government Of A God Great Enough To Make And Maintain This Universe, Shall There Continue To Be Knaves To Vend And Fools To Gulp, So Low A Piece Of Demagoguism As This?

Much Is Being Said About Peace; And No Man Desires Peace More Ardently Than I. Still I Am Yet Unprepared To Give Up The Union Fora Peace Which, So Achieved, Could Not Be Of Much Duration.

A Husband And Wife May Be Divorced And Go Out Of The Presence And Beyond The Reach Of Each Other, But The Different Parts Of Our Country Can Not Do This. They Can But Remain Face To Face, And Intercourse, Either Amicable Or Hostile, Must Continue Between Them.

I Am Glad To See That A System Of Labor Prevails Under Which Laborers Can Strike When They Want To.

If This Is Coffee, Please Bring Me Some Tea; But If This Is Tea, Please Bring Me Some Coffee.

I Believe It Is An Established Maxim In Morals That He Who Makes An Assertion Without Knowing Whether It Is True Or False, Is Guilty Of Falsehood; And The Accidental Truth Of The Assertion, Does Not Justify Or Excuse Him.

[uniting Workers Should Not] Lead To A War Upon Property, Or The Owners Of Property.

I Am Now The Most Miserable Man Living. If What I Feel Were Felt By The Whole Human Race, There Would Not Be One Cheerful Face Left On Earth.

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

Must A Government Be Too Strong For The Liberties Of Its People Or Too Weak To Maintain Its Own Existence?

We Were Proclaiming Ourselves Political Hypocrites Before The World, By Thus Fostering Human Slavery And Proclaiming Ourselves, At The Same Time, The Sole Friends Of Human Freedom.

If By The Mere Force Of Numbers A Majority Should Deprive A Minority Of Any Clearly Written Constitutional Right, It Might, In A Moral Point Of View, Justify Revolution.

Certainly There Is No Contending Against The Will Of God; But Still There Is Some Difficulty In Ascertaining, And Applying It, To Particular Cases.

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

Getting Back Together

The Lord Spared The Fitten And The Rest He Seen Fitten To Die.

You May Burn My Body To Ashes, And Scatter Them To The Winds Of Heaven; You May Drag My Soul Down To The Regions Of Darkness And Despair To Be Tormented Forever; But You Will Never Get Me To Support A Measure Which I Believe To Be Wrong, Although By Doing So I May Accomplish That Which I Believe To Be Right.

Our Defense Is In The Preservation Of The Spirit Which Prizes Liberty As A Heritage Of All Men, In All Lands, Everywhere. Destroy This Spirit And You Have Planted The Seeds Of Despotism Around Your Own Doors.

Study The Constitution. Let It Be Preached From The Pulpit, Proclaimed In Legislatures, And Enforced In Courts Of Justice.

I Happen Temporarily To Occupy This Big White House. I Am Living Witness That Any One Of Your Children May Look To Come Here As My Father's Child Has.

I Am A Little Uneasy About The Abolishment Of Slavery In This District Of Columbia.

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 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.

Let Not Him Who Is Houseless Pull Down The House Of Another, But Let Him Work Diligently And Build One For Himself, Thus By Example Assuring That His Own Shall Be Safe From Violence When Built.

I Am Not A Very Sentimental Man; And The Best Sentiment I Can Think Of Is, That If You Collect The Signatures Of All Persons Who Are No Less Distinguished Than I, You Will Have A Very Undistinguishing Mass Of Names.

If 600,000 People Have To Die In Order For The Nation To Live, Then 600,000 People Will Die.

I Am Slow To Listen To Criminations Among Friends, And Never Espouse Their Quarrels On Either Side. My Sincere Wish Is That Both Sides Will Allow Bygones To Be Bygones, And Look To The Present & Future Only.

Singular Indeed The People Should Be Writhing Under Oppression And Injury, And Yet Not One Among Them To Be Found, To Raise The Voice Of Complaint.

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

The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice

It Must Now Atone In Blood For Its Complicity In Wickedness.

Will Springs From The Two Elements Of Moral Sense And Self-interest.

I Am Always For The Man Who Wishes To Work.

Discourage Litigation. Persuade Your Neighbors To Compromise Whenever You Can. As A Peacemaker The Lawyer Has Superior Opportunity Of Being A Good Man. There Will Still Be Business Enough.

Nothing New Here, Except My Marrying, Which To Me Is A Matter Of Profound Wonder.

We Trust, Sir, That God Is On Our Side. It Is More Important To Know That We Are On God's Side.

I Walk Slowly, But Never Backwards.

The Provision Of The Constitution Giving The War Making Power To Congress Was Dictated, As I Understand It, By The Following Reasons: Kings Had Always Been Involving And Impoverishing Their People In Wars, Pretending Generally, If Not Always, That The Good Of The People Was The Object. This Our Convention Understood To Be The Most Oppressive Of All Kingly Oppressions, And They Resolved To So Frame The Constitution That No Man Should Hold The Power Of Bringing This Oppression Upon Us.

Law Is Nothing Else But The Best Reason Of Wise Men Applied For Ages To The Transactions And Business Of Mankind.

When Arguing With A Fool, Make Sure The Opponent Isn't Doing The Exact Same Thing.

Whereas, The Senate Of The United States, Devoutly Recognizing The Supreme Authority And Just Government Of Almighty God, In All The Affairs Of Men And Of Nations, Has, By A Resolution, Requested The President To Designate And Set Apart A Day For National Prayer And Humiliation.

If We Have No Friends, We Have No Pleasure; And If We Have Them, We Are Sure To Lose Them, And Be Doubly Pained By The Loss.

I Remember My Mother's Prayers And They Have Always Followed Me. They Have Clung To Me All My Life.

When I Go Hear A Man Speak, I Like To Hear Him Speak Like He's Fighting A Swarm Of Bees.

All That Serves Labor Serves The Nation. All ^ That Harms Labor Is Treason To America. No Line Can Be Drawn Between These Two. If Any Man Tells You He Loves America, Yet Hates Labor, He Is A Liar. If Any Man Tells You He Trusts America, Yet Fears Labor, He Is A Fool. There Is No America Without Labor, And To Fleece The One Is To Rob The Other.

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

Property Is The Fruit Of Labor; Property Is Desirable; It Is A Positive Good.

Senator Douglas Holds, We Know, That A Man May Rightfully Be Wiser Today Than He Was Yesterday - That He May Rightfully Change When He Finds Himself Wrong. But Can We, For That Reason, Run Ahead, And Infer That He Will Make Any Particular Change, Of Which He, Himself, Has Given No Intimation?

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition.

If You Trust, You Will Be Disappointed Occasionally, But If You Mistrust, You Will Be Miserable All The Time.

It Is The Quality Of Revolutions Not To Go By Old Lines Or Old Laws; But To Break Up Both, And Make New Ones.

Too Big To Cry Too Young To Laugh.

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...

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

The Worst Thing You Can Do For Those You Love Is The Things They Could And Should Do Themselves.

I Have Simply Tried To Do What Seemed Best Each Day, As Each Day Came.

If They Do Kill Me, I Shall Never Die Another Death.

Violence Begins Where Knowledge Ends.

I Could Not Sleep When I Got On Such A Hunt For An Idea Until I Had Caught It; ...this Was A Kind Of Passion With Me, And It Has Stuck By Me; For I Am Never Easy Now, When I Am Handling A Thought, Till I Have Bounded It North, And Bounded It South, And Bounded It East, And Bounded It West.

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

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

Senator [stephen] Douglas Is Of World-wide Renown. All The Anxious Politicians Of His Party, Or Who Have Been Of His Party For Years Past, Have Been Looking Upon Him As Certainly, At No Distant Day, To Be The President Of The United States. They Have Seen In His Round, Jolly, Fruitful Face, Post Offices, Land Offices, Marshalships, And Cabinet Appointments, Chargeships And Foreign Missions, Bursting And Sprouting Out In Wonderful Exuberance Ready To Be Laid Hold Of By Their Greedy Hands.

Gold Is Good In Its Place, But Living, Brave, Patriotic Men Are Better Than Gold.

No State, Upon Its Own Mere Motion, Can Lawfully Get Out Of The Union. Plainly, The Central Idea Of Secession, Is The Essence Of Anarchy.

I Think I Stand Where That Man Stands.

You Say You Will Not Fight To Free Negroes. Some Of Them Seem Willing To Fight For You; But, No Matter. Fight You, Then Exclusively To Save The Union.

I Am A Moderate Walker, However I Never Stroll Back.

The Demon Of Intemperance Ever Seems To Have Delighted In Sucking The Blood Of Genius And Of Generosity. What One Of Us But Can Call To Mind Some Relative More Promising In Youth Than All His Fellows, Who Has Fallen A Sacrifice To His Rapacity?

What Is To Be, Will Be, And No Prayers Of Ours Can Arrest The Decree.

I Will Say, Then, That I Am Not, Nor Ever Have Been, In Favor Of Bringing About In Any Way The Social And Political Equality Of The White And Black Races: That I Am Not, Nor Ever Have Been, In Favor Of Making Voters Or Jurors Of Negroes, Nor Of Qualifying Them To Hold Office, Nor To Intermarry With White People.

Do You Think We Choose The Times Into Which We Are Born? Or Do We Fit The Times We Are Born Into?

Reduce The Supply Of Black Labor By Colonizing The Black Laborer Out Of The Country, And By Precisely So Much You Increase The Demand For And Wages Of White Labor.

Seriously, I Do Not Think I Am Fit For The Presidency.

The Father Of Waters Again Goes Unvexed To The Sea.

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

The Constitution Is Not A Suicide Pact.

Nations Like Individuals Are Subjected To Punishments And Chastisements In This World.

You Say Men Ought To Be Hung For The Way They Are Executing The Law; I Say The Way It Is Being Executed Is Quite As Good As Any Of Its Antecedents. It Is Being Executed In The Precise Way Which Was Intended From The First, Else Why Does No Nebraska Man Express Astonishment Or Condemnation? Poor Reeder Is The Only Public Man Who Has Been Silly Enough To Believe That Anything Like Fairness Was Ever Intended, And He Has Been Bravely Undeceived.

If Elected I Shall Be Thankful; If Not, It Will Be All The Same.

He Who Molds The Public Sentiment... Makes Statutes And Decisions Possible Or Impossible To Make.

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.

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

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

All The Armies Of Europe Combined Could Not By Force Make A Track Upon The Blue Ridge, Or Take A Drink From The Ohio. If We Are To Be Destroyed, We Must Do It Ourselves.

We Have Been Preserved, These Many Years, In Peace And Prosperity. We Have Grown In Numbers, Wealth And Power, As No Other Nation Has Ever Grown. But We Have Forgotten God. We Have Forgotten The Gracious Hand Which Preserved Us In Peace, And Multiplied And Enriched And Strengthened Us; And We Have Vainly Imagined, In The Deceitfulness Of Our Hearts, That All These Blessings Were Produced By Some Superior Wisdom And Virtue Of Our Own. Intoxicated With Unbroken Success, We Have Become Too Self Sufficient To Feel The Necessity Of Redeeming And Preserving Grace, Too Proud To Pray To The God That Made Us!

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

Sir, My Concern Is Not Whether God Is On Our Side; My Greatest Concern Is To Be On God's Side, For God Is Always Right.

We Shall Sooner Have The Fowl By Hatching The Egg Than By Smashing It.

Any Society That Takes Away From Those Most Capable And Gives To The Least Will Perish.

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.

I Have Been Driven Many Times Upon My Knees By The Overwhelming Conviction That I Had No Where Else To Go. My Own Wisdom And That Of All About Me Seemed Insufficient For That Day.

You Think Slavery Is Right And Ought To Be Extended; While We Think It Is Wrong And Ought To Be Restricted. That I Suppose Is The Rub. It Certainly Is The Only Substantial Difference Between Us.

The Philosophy Of The School Room In One Generation Will Be The Philosophy Of Government In The Next.

Honest Statesmanship Is The Wise Employment Of Individual Meanness For The Public Good.

That Some Achieve Great Success, Is Proof To All That Others Can Achieve It As Well.

I Was Elected A Captain Of Volunteers--a Success Which Gave Me More Pleasure Than Any I Have Had Since.

Life Is Hard But So Very Beautiful

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.

You Know I Dislike Slavery; And You Fully Admit The Abstract Wrong Of It.

Think Of Strangers As Friends You Not Met Yet.

Teach The Children So It Will Not Be Necessary To Teach The Adults.

And I Am Glad To Know That There Is A System Of Labor - Where The Laborer Can Strike If He Wants To! I Would To God That Such A System Prevailed All Over The World.

I Don't Like That Man. I Must Get To Know Him Better.

I Am Greatly Obliged To You, And To All Who Have Come Forward At The Call Of Their Country.

God Can Not Be For, And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time.

A Day Spent Helping No One But Yourself Is A Day Wasted.

A Tendancy To Melancholy...let It Be Observed, Is A Misfortune, Not A Fault.

I Hear You Have Abolitionists Here. We Have A Few In Illinois, But We Shot One The Other Day.

We Must Work Earnestly In The Best Light He Gives Us.

What Constitutes The Bulwark Of Our Own Liberty And Independence? It Is Not...the Guns Of Our War Steamers, Or The Strength Of Our Gallant And Disciplined Army...our Reliance Is In The Love Of Liberty Which God Has Planted In Our Bosoms...

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 Was Born Feb. 12, 1809, In Hardin County, Kentucky. My Parents Were Both Born In Virginia, Of Undistinguished Families--second Families, Perhaps I Should Say. My Mother, Who Died In My Tenth Year, Was Of A Family Of The Name Of Hanks.... My Father ... Removed From Kentucky To ... Indiana, In My Eighth Year.... It Was A Wild Region, With Many Bears And Other Wild Animals Still In The Woods. There I Grew Up.... Of Course When I Came Of Age I Did Not Know Much. Still Somehow, I Could Read, Write, And Cipher ... But That Was All.

President Lincoln Was Once Criticized For His Attitude Toward His Enemies. "why Do You Try To Make Friends Of Them?" Asked An Associate. "you Should Try To Destroy Them." "am I Not Destroying My Enemies," Lincoln Gently Replied, "when I Make Them My Friends?"

You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!

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.

If There Is Anything That Links The Human To The Divine, It Is The Courage To Stand By A Principle When Everybody Else Rejects It.

To Secure To Each Laborer The Whole Product Of His Labor, Or As Nearly As Possible, Is A Worthy Object Of Any Good Government.

America Will Never Be Destroyed From The Outside. If We Falter And Lose Our Freedoms, It Will Be Because We Destroyed Ourselves.

You Are Ambitious, Which, Within Reasonable Bounds, Does Good Rather Than Harm.

Congressmen Who Willfully Take Action During Wartime That Damages Morale And Undermine The Military Are Saboteurs And Should Be Arrested, Exiled, Or Hung

I Am Not In Favor Of Making Voters Or Jurors Of Negroes, Nor Of Qualifying Them To Hold Office.

We Shall Not Fail - If We Stand Firm, We Shall Not Fail. Wise Counsels May Accelerate, Or Mistakes Delay It, But, Sooner Or Later, The Victory Is Sure To Come.

I Freely Acknowledge Myself The Servant Of The People, According To The Bond Of Service - The United States Constitution; And That, As Such, I Am Responsible To Them.

Nowhere In The World Is Presented A Government Of So Much Liberty And Equality. To The Humblest And Poorest Amongst Us Are Held Out The Highest Privileges And Positions. The Present Moment Finds Me At The White House, Yet There Is As Good A Chance For Your Children As There Was For My Father's.

Everybody Likes Compliment.

Knavery And Flattery Are Blood Relations.

Nothing In This World Is Impossible To A Willing Heart.

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

When You Have Got An Elephant By The Hind Legs And He Is Trying To Run Away, It's Best To Let Him Run.

A Right Result, At This Time, Will Be Worth More To The World, Than Ten Times The Men, And Ten Times The Money.

The Ballot Is Stronger Than The Bullet.

Democracies Have

Don't Interfere With Anything In The Constitution. That Must Be Maintained, For It Is The Only Safeguard Of Our Liberties.

I Intend No Modification Of My Oft-expressed Wish That All Men Everywhere Could Be Free.

There Are Few Things Wholly Evil Or Wholly Good. Almost Everything, Especially Of Government Policy, Is An Inseparable Compound Of The Two, So That Our Best Judgment Of The Preponderance Between Them Is Continually Demanded.

I Can Only Say That I Have Acted Upon My Best Convictions, Without Selfishness Or Malice, And That By The Help Of God I Shall Continue To Do So.

Towering Genius Distains A Beaten Path.

Kindness Is The Only Service That Will Stand The Storm Of Life And Not Wash Out. It Will Wear Well And Will Be Remembered Long After The Prism Of Politeness Or The Complexion Of Courtesy Has Faded Away.

The Press Has No Better Friend Than I Am, No One Who Is More Ready To Acknowledge . . . Its Tremendous Power For Both Good And Evil.

The Strength Of A Nation Lies In The Homes Of Its People.

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.

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

In The End, It's Not The Years In Your Life That Count. It's The Life In Your Years.

Every Person Is Responsible For His Own Looks After 40.

I Fear You Do Not Fully Comprehend The Danger Of Abridging The Liberties Of The People. Nothing But The Sternest Necessity Can Ever Justify It. A Government Had Better Go To The Extreme Of Toleration, Than To Do Aught That Could Be Construed Into An Interference With, Or To Jeopardize In Any Degree, The Common Rights Of Its Citizens.

No Duty Is More Imperative For The Government Than The Duty It ;owes The People To Furnish Them With A Sound And Uniform Currency, An Of Regulating The Circulation Of The Medium Of Exchange So That Labor Will Be Protected From A Vicious Currency [private Bank-created, Interest-bearing Debt], And Commerce Will Be Facilitated By Cheap And Safe Exchanges.

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