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From Whence Shall We Expect The Approach Of Danger? Shall Some Trans-atlantic Military Giant Step The Earth And Crush Us At A Blow? Never. All The Armies Of Europe And Asia...could Not By Force Take A Drink From The Ohio River Or Make A Track On The Blue Ridge In The Trial Of A Thousand Years. No, If Destruction Be Our Lot We Must Ourselves Be Its Author And Finisher. As A Nation Of Free Men We Will Live Forever Or Die By Suicide.

-Abraham Lincoln

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From Whence Shall We

Abraham Lincoln

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From Whence Shall We Expect The Approach Of Danger? Shall Some Trans-atlantic Military Giant Step The Earth And Crush Us At A Blow? Never. All The Armies Of Europe And Asia...could Not By Force Take A Drink From The Ohio River Or Make A Track On The Blue Ridge In The Trial Of A Thousand Years. No, If Destruction Be Our Lot We Must Ourselves Be Its Author And Finisher. As A Nation Of Free Men We Will Live Forever Or Die By Suicide.

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I Confess I Hate To See The Poor Creatures Hunted Down But I Bite My Lip And Keep Quiet.

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

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.

I Believe That Every Individual Is Naturally Entitled To Do As He Pleases With Himself And The Fruits Of His Labor, So Far As It In No Way Interferes With Any Other Men's Rights.

All I Have Learned, I Learned From Books.

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.

I Have Never United Myself To Any Church Because I Found Difficulty In Giving My Assent Without Mental Reservation To The Long, Complicated Statements Of Christian Doctrine Which Characterize The Articles Of Belief And The Usual Confession Of Faith.

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.

No Man Has A Good Enough Memory To Be A Successful Liar.

Neither Party Expected For The War, The Magnitude, Or The Duration, Which It Has Already Attained. Neither Anticipated That The Cause Of The Conflict Might Cease With, Or Even Before, The Conflict Itself Should Cease.

But Let The Past As Nothing Be. For The Future My View Is That The Fight Must Go On.

I Am Satisfied That When The Almighty Wants Me To Do Or Not Do Any Particular Thing, He Finds A Way Of Letting Me Know It

Nothing Will Divert Me From My Purpose.

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

The Enthusiastic Uprising Of The People In Our Cause, Is Our Great Reliance; And We Can Not Safely Give It Any Check, Even Thoughit Overflows, And Runs In Channels Not Laid Down In Any Chart.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Friendship Is The Start For What You Call Love.

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

I Desire So To Conduct The Affairs Of This Administration That If At The End... I Have Lost Every Other Friend On Earth, I Shall At Least Have One Friend Left, And That Friend Shall Be Down Inside Of Me.

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.

May Our Children And Our Children's Children To A Thousand Generations, Continue To Enjoy The Benefits Conferred Upon Us By A United Country, And Have Cause Yet To Rejoice Under Those Glorious Institutions Bequeathed Us By Washington And His Compeers.

Why Don't You Laugh? If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die, And You Need This Medicine As Much As I Do.

The Fiery Trials Through Which We Pass Will Light Us Down In Honor Or Dishonor To The Latest Generation.

Congress And The President

With Educated People, I Suppose, Punctuation Is A Matter Of Rule; With Me It Is A Matter Of Feeling. But I Must Say I Have A Great Respect For The Semicolin; It's A Useful Little Chap

I Go For All Sharing The Privileges Of The Government Who Assist In Bearing Its Burdens.

I Dared Not Trust The Case On The Presumption That The Court Knows Everything. In Fact, I Argued It On The Presumption That The Court Didn't Know Anything.

If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong.

When Met With A Problem I Always Ask Myself What Is The Right Thing To Do And Then I Do It.

If You Once Forfeit The Confidence Of Your Fellow Citizens, You Can Never Regain Their Respect And Esteem. It Is True That You May Fool All Of The People Some Of The Time; You Can Even Fool Some Of The People All Of The Time; But You Can't Fool All Of The People All Of The Time. -speech At Clinton, Illinois, September 8, 1854.

Some Day I Shall Be President.

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.

Am I Not Destroying My Enemies When I Make Friends Of Them?

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.

If I Get 8 Hours To Cut A Tree I'll Spend 7 Hours To Sharp My Knife.

To Lead, You Must Touch Men's Hearts.

How Many Legs Does A Dog Have If You Call The Tail A Leg? Four. Calling A Tail A Leg Doesn't Make It A Leg.

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.

If You Understand What You're Doing, You're Not Learning Anything.

No Man Has A Right To Judge Andrew Johnson In Any Respect Who Has Not Suffered As Much And Done As Much As He For The Nation's Sake.

Such Will Be A Great Lesson Of Peace: Teaching Men That What They Cannot Take By An Election, Neither Can They Take It By War.

I Am Not An Accomplished Lawyer.

I Shall Adopt New Views As Fast As They Shall Appear To Be True Views.

The Strongest Bond Of Human Sympathy Outside The Family Relation Should Be One Uniting Working People Of All Nations And Tongues And Kindreds.

Government Should Stand Behind Its Currency And Credit And The Bank Deposits Of The Nation. No Individual Should Suffer A Loss Of Money Through Depreciation Or Inflated Currency Of Bank Bankruptcy.

Gen. Schurz Thinks I Was A Little Cross In My Late Note To You. If I Was, I Ask Pardon. If I Do Get Up A Little Temper I Have No Sufficient Time To Keep It Up.

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.

In Regards To This Great Book [the Bible], I Have But To Say It Is The Best Gift God Has Given To Man. All The Good The Savior Gave To The World Was Communicated Through This Book. But For It We Could Not Know Right From Wrong. All Things Most Desirable For Man's Welfare, Here And Hereafter, Are Found Portrayed In It.

We Meet This Evening, Not In Sorrow, But In Gladness Of Heart.

Being President Is Like The Man Who Was Tarred And Feathered And Ridden Out Of Town On A Rail... A Man In The Crowd Asked How He Liked It, And His Reply Was That If It Wasn't For The Honor Of The Thing, He Would Much Rather Walk.

Every Person Is Responsible For His Own Looks After 40.

Let No Young Man Choosing The Law For A Calling For A Moment Yield To The Popular Belief -- Resolve To Be Honest At All Events; And If In Your Own Judgment You Cannot Be An Honest Lawyer, Resolve To Be Honest Without Being A Lawyer.

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

But The Proclamation, As Law, Either Is Valid, Or Is Not Valid. If It Is Not Valid, It Needs No Retraction. If It Is Valid, It Can Not Be Retracted, Any More Than The Dead Can Be Brought To Life.

It's Not Me Who Can't Keep A Secret. It's The People I Tell That Can't.

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

Have I Not Destroyed My Enemy When I Have Made Him Into My Friend?

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

He Who Represents Himself Has A Fool For A Client

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

The Only Person Who Is A Worse Liar Than A Faith Healer Is His Patient.

My Politics Are Short And Sweet, Like The Old Woman's Dance.

Short And Sweet

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.

I Have Never Had A Feeling, Politically, That Did Not Spring From The Declaration Of Independence That All Should Have An Equal Chance. This Is The Sentiment Embodied In The Declaration Of Independence, I Would Rather Be Assassinated On This Spot Than Surrender It.

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.

Common Looking People Are The Best In The World: That Is The Reason The Lord Makes So Many Of Them.

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

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

And Upon This Act [emancipation Proclamation]...i Invoke...the Gracious Favor Of Almighty God.

Emancipation Proclamation

[i]f The Policy Of The Government, Upon Vital Questions Affecting, The Whole People Is To Be Irrevocably Fixed By Decisions Of The Supreme Court, The Instant They Are Made, In Ordinary Litigation Between Parties In Personal Actions, The People Will Have Ceased, To Be Their Own Rulers, Having, To That Extent, Practically Resigned Their Government, Into The Hands Of That Eminent Tribunal.

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.

But Fight We Must; And Conquer We Shall; In The End.

I Believe The Bible Is The Best Gift God Has Ever Given To Man. All The Good From The Savior Of The World Is Communicated To Us Through This Book.

The Best Thing About The Future Is That It Comes One Day At A Time.

There Is Another Old Poet Whose Name I Do Not Now Remember Who Said, 'truth Is The Daughter Of Time.'

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 Am In Favor Of A National Bank...in Favor Of The Internal Improvements System And A High Protective Tariff.

I Cannot Think That We Are Useless Or God Would Not Have Created Us.

Our Republican System Was Meant For A Homogeneous People. As Long As Blacks Continue To Live With The Whites They Constitute A Threat To The National Life. Family Life May Also Collapse And The Increase Of Mixed Breed Bastards May Some Day Challenge The Supremacy Of The White Man.

That We We Here Highly Resolve That These Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain - That This Nation, Under God, Shall Have A New Birth Of Freedom - And That Government Of The People, By The People, For The People, Shall Not Perish From The Earth.

Military Necessity Does Not Admit Of Cruelty - That Is, The Infliction Of Suffering For The Sake Of Suffering Or For Revenge, . . . Nor Of Torture To Extort Confessions.

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

The Almighty Has His Own Purposes.

The Us Patent System Adds The Fuel Of Interest To The Fire Of Genius In The Discovery And Production Of New And Useful Things

The Human Mind Is Impelled To Action, Or Held In Rest By Some Power, Over Which The Mind Itself Has No Control.

The Ballot Is Stronger Than The Bullet.

Democracies Have

I Believe The Bible Is The Best Gift God Ever Gave To Man. All The Good From The Savior Of The World Is Communicated To Us Through That Book." On A Personal Spiritual Note, Lincoln Confessed, "i Have Been Driven Many Times To My Knees With The Overwhelming Conviction, That I Had Nowhere Else To Go.

The Matter Of Fees Is Important, Far Beyond The Mere Question Of Bread And Butter Involved. Properly Attended To, Fuller Justice Is Done To Both Lawyer And Client.

The Slave-breeders And Slave-traders, Are A Small, Odious And Detested Class, Among You; And Yet In Politics, They Dictate The Course Of All Of You, And Are As Completely Your Masters, As You Are The Master Of Your Own Negroes.

If You Want Your Name To Be Remembered After Your Death Either Do Something Worth Writing Or Write Some Thing Worth Reading

Love Is The Chain Whereby To Bind A Child To Its Parents.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand." I Believe This Government Cannot Endure, Permanently Half Slave And Half Free. I Do Not Expect The Union To Be Dissolved — I Do Not Expect The House To Fall — But I Do Expect It Will Cease To Be Divided. It Will Become All One Thing Or All The Other.

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

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

The Autocrat Of All The Russias Will Resign His Crown, And Proclaim His Subjects Free Republicans Sooner Than Will Our American Masters Voluntarily Give Up Their Slaves.

I Never Encourage Deceit, And Falsehood, Especially If You Have Got A Bad Memory, Is The Worst Enemy A Fellow Can Have. The Fact Is Truth Is Your Truest Friend, No Matter What The Circumstances Are.

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.

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.

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.

Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.

What I Want Is To Get Done What The People Desire To Have Done, And The Question For Me Is How To Find That Out Exactly.

Young Man, If God Gives Me Four Years More To Rule This Country, I Believe It Will Become What It Ought To Be-what Its Divine Author Intended It To Be-no Longer One Vast Plantation For Breeding Human Beings For The Purpose Of Lust And Bondage. But It Will Become A New Valley Of Jehoshaphat, Where All The Nations Of The Earth Will Assemble Together Under One Flag, Worshipping A Common God, And They Will Celebrate The Resurrection Of Human Freedom.

I Soon Began To Dream. ... I Heard Subdued Sobs, As If A Number Of People Were Weeping. ... I Left My Bed And Wandered Downstairs. ... There I Met With A Sickening Surprise. Before Me Was A Catafalque, On Which Rested A Corpse Wrapped In Funeral Vestments. Around It Were Stationed Soldiers Who Were Acting As Guards; And There Was A Throng Of People, Gazing Mournfully Upon The Corpse, Whose Face Was Covered, Others Weeping Pitifully. 'who Is Dead In The White House?' I Demanded Of One Of The Soldiers, 'the President,' Was His Answer; 'he Was Killed By An Assassin.''

Books Serve To Show A Man That Those Original Thoughts Of His Aren't Very New At All.

New Relationship

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

Hope For The Future

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

I Am Always For The Man Who Wishes To Work.

I Do Not Understand That Because I Do Not Want A Negro Woman For A Slave I Must Necessarily Want Her For A Wife. My Understanding Is That I Can Just Let Her Alone.

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 Am Not Concerned That You Have Fallen -- I Am Concerned That You Arise.

I Hold It To Be A Paramount Duty Of Us In The Free States, Due To The Union Of The States, And Perhaps To Liberty Itself (paradox Though It May Seem) To Let The Slavery Of The Other States Alone; While, On The Other Hand, I Hold It To Be Equally Clear, That We Should Never Knowingly Lend Ourselves Directly Or Indirectly, To Prevent That Slavery From Dying A Natural Death--to Find New Places For It To Live In, When It Can No Longer Exist In The Old.

While We Are Grateful To All The Brave Men And Officers For The Events Of The Past Few Days, We Should, Above All, Be Very Grateful To Almighty God, Who Gives Us Victory.

Freedom Is The Last, Best Hope Of Earth.

Continue To Execute All The Express Provisions Of Our National Constitution, And The Union Will Endure Forever-it Being Impossible To Destroy It, Except By Some Action Not Provided For In The Instrument Itself.

No Client Ever Had Money Enough To Bribe My Conscience Or To Stop Its Utterance Against Wrong, And Oppression. My Conscience Is My Own - My Creators - Not Man's. I Shall Never Sink The Rights Of Mankind To The Malice, Wrong, Or Avarice Of Another's Wishes, Though Those Wishes Come To Me In The Relation Of Client And Attorney.

Trusting In Him, Who Can Go With Me, And Remain With You And Be Every Where For Good, Let Us Confidently Hope That All Will Yet Be Well. To His Care Commending You, As I Hope In Your Prayers You Will Commend Me, I Bid You An Affectionate Farewell.

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

An Allusion Has Been Made To The Homestead Law. I Think It Worthy Of Consideration, And That The Wild Lands Of The Country Should Be Distributed So That Every Man Should Have The Means And Opportunity Of Benefitting His Condition.

You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!

I Always Remember The Prayers Of My Mother As They Always Forever.

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'.

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

The President To-night Has A Dream: - He Was In A Party Of Plain People, And, As It Became Known Who He Was, They Began To Comment On His Appearance. One Of Them Said: - "he Is A Very Common-looking Man". The President Replied: - "the Lord Prefers Common-looking People. That Is The Reason He Makes So Many Of Them".

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

The Presidency, Even To The Most Experienced Politicians, Is No Bed Of Roses; And [zachary] Taylor Like Others, Found Thorns Within It. No Human Being Can Fill That Station And Escape Censure.

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

Words Of Wisdom

Let Us Renew Our Trust In God, And Go Forward Without Fear.

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.

When I Do Good, I Feel Good. When I Do Bad, I Feel Bad. That's My Religion.

Everybody Likes A Compliment.

Whether Or Not The World Would Be Vastly Benefited By A Total Banishment From It Of All Intoxicating Drinks Seems Not Now An Open Question. Three-fourths Of Mankind Confess The Affirmative With Their Tongues, And I Believe All The Rest Acknowledge It In Their Hearts.

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

If Once You Forfeit The Confidence Of Your Fellow-citizens, You Can Never Regain Their Respect And Esteem.

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.

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

Well, I Suppose You Know That Men Will Stand A Good Deal When They Are Flattered.

We, On Our Side, Are Praying To Him To Give Us Victory, Because We Believe We Are Right; But Those On The Other Side Pray To Him, Look For Victory, Believing They Are Right. What Must He Think Of Us?

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

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?

The Will Of God Prevails. In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be, Wrong. God Cannot Be For And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time. In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party - And Yet The Human Instrumentalities, Working Just As They Do, Are Of The Best Adaptation To Effect His Purpose.

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?

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

A Good, Real, Unrestrained, Hearty Laugh Is A Sort Of Glorified Internal Massage, Performed Rapidly And Automatically. It Manipulates And Revitalizes Corners And Unexplored Crannies Of The System That Are Unresponsive To Most Other Exercise Methods. With The Fearful Strain That Is On Me Night And Day, If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die.

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

Every Man Has A Right To Be Equal With Every Other Man.

Remembering That Peter Denied His Lord With An Oath, After Most Solemnly Protesting That He Never Would, I Will Not Swear I Will Make No Committals; But I Do Think I Will Not.

...i Am Exceedingly Anxious That This Union, The Constitution, And The Liberties Of The People Shall Be Perpetuated In Accordance With The Original Idea For Which That Struggle Was Made, And 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, For Perpetuating The Object Of That Great Struggle.

Hold On With A Bulldog Grip, And Chew And Choke As Much As Possible.

Life Is Hard But So Very Beautiful

I Must Keep Some Standard Of Principle Fixed Within Myself.

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.

And Whereas It Is The Duty Of Nations As Well As Of Men, To Own Their Dependence Upon The Overruling Power Of God ... And To Recognize The Sublime Truth, Announced In The Holy Scriptures And Proven By All History, That Those Nations Only Are Blessed Whose God Is The Lord.

As A Peacemaker The Lawyer Has Superior Opportunity Of Being A Good Man.

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

Accounts Of Outrages Committed By Mobs Form The Every-day News Of The Times. They Have Pervaded The Country From New England To Louisiana, They Are Neither Peculiar To The Eternal Snows Of The Former Nor The Burning Suns Of The Latter; They Are Not The Creature Of Climate, Neither Are They Confined To The Slaveholding Or The Non-slaveholding States. Alike They Spring Up Among The Pleasure-hunting Masters Of Southern Slaves, And The Order-loving Citizens Of The Land Of Steady Habits. Whatever Then Their Cause May Be, It Is Common To The Whole Country.

When I Left Springfield [to Become President] I Asked The People To Pray For Me. I Was Not A Christian. When I Buried My Son, The Severest Trial Of My Life, I Was Not A Christian. But When I Went To Gettysburg And Saw The Graves Of Thousands Of Our Soldiers, I Then And There Consecrated Myself To Christ.

There Is More Involved In This Contest Than Is Realized By Every One. There Is Involved In This Struggle The Question Whether Your Children And My Children Shall Enjoy The Privileges We Have Enjoyed.

We Must Remember That The People Of All The States Are Entitled To All The Privileges And Immunities Of The Citizen Of The Several States. We Should Bear This In Mind, And Act In Such A Way As To Say Nothing Insulting Or Irritating. I Would Inculcate This Idea, So That We May Not, Like Pharisees, Set Ourselves Up To Be Better Than Other People.

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.

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.

Money Possesses No Value To The State Other Than That Given To It By Circulation.

I Could As Easily Bail Out The Potomac River With A Teaspoon As Attend To All The Details Of The Army.

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.

God Is The Silent Partner In All Great Enterprises.

It Is Bad To Be Poor. I Shall Go To The Wall For Bread And Meat, If I Neglect My Business This Year As Well As Last.

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.

Upon This Subject, The Habits Of Our Whole Species Fall Into Three Great Classes--useful Labour, Useless Labour And Idleness. Of These The First Only Is Meritorious; And To It All The Products Of Labour Rightfully Belong; But The Two Latter, While They Exist, Are Heavy Pensioners Upon The First, Robbing It Of A Large Portion Of It's Just Rights. The Only Remedy For This Is To, As Far As Possible, Drive Useless Labour And Idleness Out Of Existence.

The Only Assurance Of Our Nation's Safety Is To Lay Our Foundation In Morality And Religion.

These Capitalists Generally Act Harmoniously And In Concert, To Fleece The People.

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.

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

Congress And The President

Let There Be No Compromise On The Question Of Extending Slavery. If There Be, All Our Labor Is Lost, And, Ere Long, Must Be Done Again.

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.

It Has Been My Experience That Folks Who Have No Vices Have Very Few Virtues.

All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.

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.

Beavers Build Houses; But They Build Them In Nowise Differently, Or Better Now, Than They Did, Five Thousand Years Ago. Ants, And Honey-bees, Provide Food For Winter; But Just In The Same Way They Did, When Solomon Referred The Sluggard To Them As Patterns Of Prudence. Man Is Not The Only Animal Who Labors; But He Is The Only One Who Improves His Workmanship.

A Jury Too Often Has At Least One Member More Ready To Hang The Panel Than To Hang The Traitor.

Commitment Is What Transforms A Promise Into A Reality... Commitment Is The Stuff Character Is Made Of; The Power To Change The Face Of Things. It Is The Daily Triumph Of Integrity Over Skepticism.

I Do Not Allow Myself To Suppose That Either The Convention Or The League, Have Concluded To Decide That I Am Either The Greatest Or The Best Man In America, But Rather They Have Concluded It Is Not Best To Swap Horses While Crossing The River, And Have Further Concluded That I Am Not So Poor A Horse That They Might Not Make A Botch Of It In Trying To Swap.

My God! My God! What Will The Country Say?

A Nation May Be Said To Consist Of Its Territory, Its People, And Its Laws. The Territory Is The Only Part Which Is Of Certain Durability.

We Want, And Must Have, A National Policy, As To Slavery, Which Deals With It As Being Wrong.

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.

I Have Always Thought That All Men Should Be Free; But If Any Should Be Slaves, It Should Be First Those Who Desire For Themselves, And Secondly Those Who Desire It For Others. Whenever I Hear Anyone Arguing For Slavery, I Feel A Strong Impulse To See It Tried On Him Personally.

Let The People Know The Truth And The Country Is Safe.

Without Slavery The Rebellion Could Never Have Existed; Without Slavery It Could Not Continue.

Knavery And Flattery Are Blood Relations.

It Is Your Business To Rise Up And Preserve The Union And Liberty, For Yourselves, And Not For Me. I Desire They Shall Be Constitutionally Preserved.

I Fear Explanations Explanatory Of Things Explained.

The Time Has Come When I Am For Everybody Fighting The Rebels. Let Indians Fight Them; Let The Negroes Fight Them; And If You Have Got Any Strong-legged Jackasses In Iwoa That Can Kick Rebels To Death, They Have My Hearty Consent.

Our Common Country Is In Great Peril, Demanding The Loftiest Views, And Boldest Action To Bring It Speedy Relief. Once Relieved, Its Form Of Government Is Saved To The World; Its Beloved History, And Cherished Memories, Are Vindicated; And Its Happy Future Fully Assured, And Rendered Inconceivably Grand.

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.

I Wish All Men To Be Free. I Wish The Material Prosperity Of The Already Free Which I Feel Sure The Extinction Of Slavery Would Bring.

Extemporaneous Speaking Should Be Practised [sic] And Cultivated. It Is The Lawyer's Avenue To The Public. However Able And Faithful He May Be In Other Respects, People Are Slow To Bring Him Business If He Cannot Make A Speech. And Yet There Is Not A More Fatal Error To Young Lawyers Than Relying Too Much On Speech-making. If Any One, Upon His Rare Powers Of Speaking, Shall Claim An Exemption From The Drudgery Of The Law, His Case Is A Failure In Advance.

Women Are The Only People I Am Afraid Of Who I Never Thought Would Hurt Me

I Have No Wealthy Or Popular Relations To Recommend Me.

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.

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