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Human Nature Will Not Change. In Any Future Great National Trial, Compared With The Men Of This, We Shall Have As Weak And As Strong, As Silly And As Wise, As Bad And As Good. Let Us Therefore Study The Incidents In This As Philosophy To Learn Wisdom From And None Of Them As Wrongs To Be Avenged.

-Abraham Lincoln

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Human Nature Will Not

Abraham Lincoln

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Human Nature Will Not Change. In Any Future Great National Trial, Compared With The Men Of This, We Shall Have As Weak And As Strong, As Silly And As Wise, As Bad And As Good. Let Us Therefore Study The Incidents In This As Philosophy To Learn Wisdom From And None Of Them As Wrongs To Be Avenged.

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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.

I Was Losing Interest In Politics, When The Repeal Of The Missouri Compromise Aroused Me Again. What I Have Done Since Then Is Pretty Well Known.

I Do The Very Best I Can, I Mean To Keep Going. If The End Brings Me Out All Right, Then What Is Said Against Me Won't Matter. If I'm Wrong, Ten Angels Swearing I Was Right Won't Make A Difference.

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.

I Am Approached With The Most Opposite Opinions And Advice, And That By Religious Men, Who Are Equally Certain That They Represent The Divine Will. I Am Sure That Either The One Or The Other Class Is Mistaken In That Belief, And Perhaps In Some Respects Both.

I Have Neither Time Nor Disposition To Enter Into Discussion With The Friend, And End This Occasion By Suggesting For Her Consideration The Question Whether, If It Be True That The Lord Has Appointed Me To Do The Work She Has Indicated, It Is Not Probable That He Would Have Communicated Knowledge Of The Fact To Me As Well As To Her.

We Must Settle This Question Now -- Whether In A Free Government The Minority Have The Right To Break It Up Whenever They Choose. If We Fail, It Will Go Far To Prove The Incapability Of The People To Govern Themselves.

To Lead, You Must Touch Men's Hearts.

I Will Do What I Think Is Right And When I Discover That It Is Wrong, I Will Change It.

I Told Myself, "lincoln, You Can Never Make A Lawyer If You Do Not Understand What Demonstrate Means." So I Left My Situation In Springfield, Went Home To My Father's House, And Stayed There Till I Could Give Any Proposition In The Six Books Of Euclid At Sight. I Then Found Out What "demonstrate" Means, And Went Back To My Law Studies.

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 Can Complain Because Rose Bushes Have Thorns, Or Rejoice Because Thorn Bushes Have Roses.

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.

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.

Never Do Anything For Anyone Who Can Just As Well Do It Themself

Character Is The Tree, Reputation Is The Shadow.

Let None Falter Who Thinks He Is Right, And We May Succeed. But If, After All, We Shall Fail, Be It So: We Still Shall Have The Proud Consolation Of Saying To Our Consciences, And To The Departed Shade Of Our Country's Freedom, That The Cause Approved Of Our Judgment And Adored Of Our Hearts, In Disaster, In Chains, In Torture, In Death, We Never Faltered In Defending.

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

That I Am Not A Member Of Any Christian Church, Is True; But I Have Never Denied The Truth Of The Scriptures; And I Have Never Spoken With Intentional Disrepect Of Religion In General, Or Of Any Denomination Of Christians In Particular.

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

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.

I Hold That While A Man Exists, It Is His Duty To Improve Not Only His Own Condition, But To Assist In Ameliorating Mankind.

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

Nothing Valuable Can Be Lost By Taking Time.

Every Man's Happiness Is His Own Responsibility.

Through Their Deeds, The Dead Of Battle Have Spoken More Eloquently For Themselves Than Any Of The Living Ever Could. But We Can Only Honor Them By Rededicating Ourselves To The Cause For Which They Gave A Last Full Measure Of Devotion.

Let No Feeling Of Discouragement Prey Upon You, And In The End You Are Sure To Succeed.

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.

[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.

Talk To The Jury As Though Your Client's Fate Depends On Every Word You Utter.

I Have Two Great Enemies, The Southern Army In Front Of Me And The Bankers In The Rear. Of The Two, The One At My Rear Is My Greatest Foe.

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

For It Has Been Said, All That A Man Hath Will He Give For His Life; And While All Contribute Of Their Substance The Soldier Puts His Life At Stake, And Often Yields It Up In His Country's Cause. The Highest Merit, Then Is Due To The Soldier.

What Has Ever Threatened Our Liberty And Prosperity Save And Except This Institution Of Slavery?

I Am Very Glad Indeed To See You To-night, And Yet I Will Not Say I Thank You For This Call, But I Do Most Sincerely Thank Almighty God For The Occasion On Which You Have Called.

We Have Been The Recipients Of The Choicest Bounties Of Heaven; 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.

Work, Work, Work, Is The Main Thing.

If You Intend To Go To Work There Is No Better Place Than Right Where You Are; If You Do Not Intend To Go To Work, You Can Not Get Along Anywhere.

It Often Requires More Courage To Dare To Do Right Than To Fear To Do Wrong.

Your Rights End Where My Nose Begins.

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.

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.

If The Good People In Their Wisdom Shall See Fit To Keep Me In The Background, I Have Been Too Familiar With Disappointments To Bevery Much Chagrined.

If All Do Not Join Now To Save The Good Old Ship Of The Union This Voyage Nobody Will Have A Chance To Pilot Her On Another Voyage.

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.

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

You Can't Help The Poor By Being One Of Them.

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.

The Power Of Hope Upon Human Exertion, And Happiness, Is Wonderful.

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

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.

Never Change Horses In Midstream.

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

Progress Of Society

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

To Read In The Bible, As The Word Of God Himself, That "in The Sweat Of Thy Face Shalt Thou Eat Bread, ["] And To Preach There-from That, "in The Sweat Of Other Mans Faces Shalt Thou Eat Bread," To My Mind Can Scarcely Be Reconciled With Honest Sincerity.

Let Us Strive On To Finish The Work We Are In.

No One Has Needed Favours More Than I, And Generally, Few Have Been Less Unwilling To Accept Them; But In This Case, Favour To Me,would Be Injustice To The Public, And Therefore I Must Beg Your Pardon For Declining It.

Ready Are We All To Cry Out And Ascribe Motives When Our Toes Are Pinched.

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

You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!

My Friends I Now Leave, Not Knowing When, Or Whether Ever, I May Return, With A Task Before Me Greater Than That Which Rested Upon Washington. Without The Assistance Of That Divine Being, Who Ever Attended Him, I Cannot Succeed. With That Assistance, I Cannot Fail.

One Is A Majority If He Is Right.

The Sense Of Obligation To Continue Is Present In All Of Us. A Duty To Strive Is The Duty Of Us All. I Felt A Call To That Duty.

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.

If Any Should Be Slaves, It Should Be First Those Who Desire It For Themselves, And Secondly, Those Who Desire It For Others

The Blessing Always Comes Back To The Door Of The Author.

I Cannot Speak So Confidently About The Fighting Qualities Of The Eastern Men, Or What Are Called Yankees - Not Knowing Myself Particularly To Whom The Appellation Belongs - But This I Do Know - If The Southerners Think That Man For Man They Are Better Than Our Illinois Men, Or Western Men Generally, They Will Discover Themselves In A Grievous Mistake.

Weakness Is What Keeps Driving Us To God, By The Overwhelming Conviction That There Just Isn't Anywhere Else To Go.

I Laugh Because I Must Not Cry, That Is All, That Is All.

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.

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

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

Why Don't I Drink From A Straw? Because Straws Are For Suckers.

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

We Cannot Escape History.

In Order To Win A Man To Your Cause, You Must First Reach His Heart, The Great High Road To His Reason.

Moral Principle Is A Looser Bond Than Pecuniary Interest.

The Severest Justice May Not Always Be The Best Policy

Few Can Be Induced To Labor Exclusively For Posterity - Posterity Has Done Nothing For Us

I Like To See A Man Proud Of The Place In Which He Lives. I Like To See A Man Live So That His Place Will Be Proud Of Him.

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

Reputation Is Like Fine China: Once Broken It's Very Hard To Repair.

With The Catching Ends The Pleasure Of The Chase.

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.

It Is The Eternal Struggle Between These Two Principles - Right And Wrong. They Are The Two Principles That Have Stood Face To Face From The Beginning Of Time And Will Ever Continue To Struggle. It Is The Same Spirit That Says, "you Work And Toil And Earn Bread, And I'll Eat It."

Our Eldest Boy, Bob, Has Been Away From Us Nearly A Year At School, And Will Enter Harvard University This Month. He Promises Verywell, Considering We Never Controlled Him Much.

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

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.

The Very Spot Where Grew The Bread That Formed My Bones, I See. How Strange, Old Field, On Thee To Tread, And Feel I'm Part Of Thee.

I Am For Liberty Of Conscience In Its Noblest, Broadest, And Highest Sense. But I Cannot Give Liberty Of Conscience To The Pope And His Followers, The Papists, So Long As They Tell Me, Through All Their Councils, Theologians, And Canon Laws That Their Conscience Orders Them To Burn My Wife, Strangle My Children, And Cut My Throat When They Find Their Opportunity.

It May Be Affirmed, Without Extravagance, That The Free Institutions We Enjoy, Have Developed The Powers, And Improved The Condition, Of Our Whole People, Beyond Any Example In The World.

You Can't Escape Tomorrow's Responsibilities By Evading It Today

The Purposes Of The Almighty Are Perfect, And Must Prevail, Though We Erring Mortals May Fail To Accurately Perceive Them In Advance. We Hoped For A Happy Termination Of This Terrible War Long Before This; But God Knows Best, And Has Ruled Otherwise. We Shall Yet Acknowledge His Wisdom, And Our Own Error Therein. Meanwhile We Must Work Earnestly In The Best Lights He Gives Us, Trusting That So Working Still Conduces To The Great Ends He Ordains. Surely He Intends Some Great Good To Follow This Mighty Convulsion, Which No Mortal Could Make, And No Mortal Could Stay.

It Has Long Been Recognized That The Problems With Alcohol Relate Not To The Use Of A Bad Thing, But To The Abuse Of A Good Thing.

God Bless The Methodist Church - Bless All The Churches - And Blessed Be God, Who, In This Our Great Trial, Giveth Us The Churches.

Human Nature Will Not Change. In Any Future Great National Trial, Compared With The Men Of This, We Shall Have As Weak And As Strong, As Silly And As Wise, As Bad And As Good. Let Us Therefore Study The Incidents In This As Philosophy To Learn Wisdom From And None Of Them As Wrongs To Be Avenged.

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.

If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong.

I Never Did Ask More, Nor Ever Was Willing To Accept Less, Than For All The States, And The People Thereof, To Take And Hold Their Places, And Their Rights, In The Union, Under The Constitution Of The United States. For This Alone Have I Felt Authorized To Struggle; And I Seek Neither More Nor Less Now.

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.

Don't Pray That God's On Our Side, Pray That We're On His Side.

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.

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

Fondly Do We Hope, Ferverently Do We Pray, That This Mighty Scourge Of War May Speedily Pass Away.

If This Country Is Ever Demoralized, It Will Come From Trying To Live Without Work.

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.

Violence Begins Where Knowledge Ends.

It Will Not Do To Investigate The Subject Of Religion Too Closely, As It Is Apt To Lead To Infidelity.

God Is The Silent Partner In All Great Enterprises.

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

The Negative Principle That No Law Is Free Law, Is Not Much Known Except Among Lawyers.

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.

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

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

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

Can Treaties Be More Faithfully Enforced Between Aliens Than Laws Can Among Friends? Suppose You Go To War, You Cannot Fight Always; And When, After Much Loss On Both Sides, And No Gain On Either, You Cease Fighting, The Identical Old Questions As To Terms Of Intercourse Are Again Upon You.

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

Get Books, Sit Yourself Down Anywhere, And Go To Reading Them Yourself.

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.

With Malice Towards None; With Charity For All.

History Is Not History Unless It Is The Truth.

Character Is Like A Tree, And Reputation Is Like Its Shadow.

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

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.

In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be Wrong.

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

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.

What Is Conservatism? Is It Not The Adherence To The Old And Tried Against The New And Untried?

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

The Written Word May Be Man's Greatest Invention. It Allows Us To Converse With The Dead, The Absent, And The Unborn.

I Was Raised To Farm Work.

If I Had My Way, This War Would Never Have Been Commenced. If I Had Been Allowed My Way This War Would Have Been Ended Before This.

Life Is Hard But So Very Beautiful

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

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.

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

Republicans Are For Both The Man And The Dollar, But In Case Of Conflict The Man Before The Dollar.

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

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

Allow The President To Invade A Neighboring Nation, Whenever He Shall Deem It Necessary To Repel An Invasion, And You Allow Him To Do So Whenever He May Choose To Say He Deems It Necessary For Such A Purpose - And You Allow Him To Make War At Pleasure.

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

All The Armies Of Europe, Asia And Africa Combined, With All The Treasure Of The Earth (our Own Excepted) In Their Military Chest; With A Buonaparte For A Commander, Could Not By Force, Take A Drink From The Ohio, Or Make A Track On The Blue Ridge, In A Trial Of A Thousand Years.

I Cannot Bring Myself To Believe That Any Human Being Lives Who Would Do Me Any Harm.

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.

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 ... Ran For Legislature [in 1832] ... And Was Beaten-the Only Time I Have Been Beaten By The People.

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

The Almighty Has His Own Purposes.

Slavery Is Founded On The Selfishness Of Man's Nature - Opposition To It On His Love Of Justice. These Principles Are In Eternal Antagonism; And When Brought Into Collision So Fiercely As Slavery Extension Brings Them, Shocks And Throes And Convulsions Must Ceaselessly Follow.

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

In Using The Strong Hand, As Now Compelled To Do, The Government Has A Difficult Duty To Perform. At The Very Best, It Will By Turns Do Both Too Little And Too Much. It Can Properly Have No Motive Of Revenge, No Purpose To Punish Merely For Punishment's Sake. While We Must, By All Available Means, Prevent The Overthrow Of The Government, We Should Avoid Planting And Cultivating Too Many Thorns In The Bosom Of Society.

Don't Swap Horses In The Middle Of The Stream.

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

In Regard To This Great Book, I Have But To Say, It Is The Best Gift God Has Given To Man.

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

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

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.

All I Have Learned, I Learned From Books.

I Have Got You Together To Hear What I Have Written Down. I Do Not Wish Your Advice About The Main Matterfor That I Have Determined For Myself.

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.

The Available Supply Of Gold And Silver Being Wholly Inadequate To Permit The Issuance Of Coins Of Intrinsic Value Or Paper Currency Convertible Into Coin Of Intrinsic Value Or Paper Currency Convertible Into Coin In The Volume Required To Serve The Needs Of The People, Some Other Basis For The Issue Of Currency Must Be Developed, And Some Means Other Than That Of Convertibility Into Coin Must Be Developed To Prevent Undue Fluctuation In The Value Of Paper Currency Or Any Other Substitute For Money Intrinsic Value That May Come Into Use.

Important Principles May, And Must, Be Inflexible.

The World Will Little Note, Nor Long Remember What We Say Here, But It Can Never Forget What They Did Here. It Is For Us The Living, Rather, To Be Dedicated Here To The Unfinished Work Which They Who Fought Here So Nobly Advanced.

Unfinished Work

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

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

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

I Can Make Brigadier Generals, But I Can't Make Horses.

If You Are Resolutely Determined To Make A Lawyer Of Yourself, The Thing Is More Than Half Done Already. It Is But A Small Matter Whether You Read With Anyone Or Not. I Did Not Read With Anyone. Get The Books, And Read And Study Them Till You Understand Them In Their Principal Features; And That Is The Main Thing. It Is Of No Consequence To Be In A Large Town While You Are Reading. I Read At New Salem, Which Never Had Three Hundred People Living In It. The Books, And Your Capacity For Understanding Them, Are Just The Same In All Places.

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.

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

Without The Assistance Of That Divine Being...i Cannot Succeed. With That Assistance I Cannot Fail.

I Could Not Have Slept Tonight If I Had Left That Helpless Little Creature To Perish On The Ground.

You May Have A Wen Or A Cancer Upon Your Person And Not Be Able To Cut It Out Lest You Bleed To Death; But Surely It Is No Way Tocure It, To Engraft It And Spread It Over Your Whole Body.

Think Of Strangers As Friends You Not Met Yet.

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.

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

It Is Not Merely For To-day, But For All Time To Come That We Should Perpetuate For Our Children's Children This Great And Free Government, Which We Have Enjoyed All Our Lives.

I Destroy My Enemy If I Make Him My Friend.

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.

My Policy Is To Have No Policy.

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.

The Government Will Support You To The Utmost Of Its Ability, Which Is Neither More Nor Less Than It Has Done And Will Do For Allcommanders.

I Think Slavery Is Wrong, Morally, And Politically. I Desire That It Should Be No Further Spread In These United States, And I Should Not Object If It Should Gradually Terminate In The Whole Union.

Money Powers Prey Upon The Nation In Times Of Peace & Conspire Against It In Times Of Adversity.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

I Want In All Cases To Do Right.

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

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.

You Know You've Reached Middle Age When All You Exercise Is Caution

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.

A Woman Is The Only Thing I Am Afraid Of That I Know Will Not Hurt Me.

Fellow Countrymen: At This Second Appearing To Take The Oath Of The Presidential Office, There Is Less Occasion For An Extended Address Than There Was At The First...the Progress Of Our Arms, Upon Which All Else Chiefly Depends, Is As Well Known To The Public As To Myself; And It Is, I Trust, Reasonably Satisfactory And Encouraging To All. With High Hope For The Future, No Prediction In Regard To It Is Ventured.

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

I Can Make A General In Five Minutes But A Good Horse Is Hard To Replace.

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.

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

And Then, The Negro Being Doomed, And Damned, And Forgotten, To Everlasting Bondage, Is The White Man Quite Certain That The Tyrant Demon Will Not Turn Upon Him Too?

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.

Commitment Is What Transforms A Promise Into Reality.

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Hans Christian Andersen

Roy Lichtenstein

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