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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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I Could Not Sleep

Abraham Lincoln

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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.

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Let Every Man Remember That To Violate The Law, Is To Trample On The Blood Of His Father, And To Tear The Character Of His Own, And His Children's Liberty.

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

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

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

If The American People Could Learn What I Know Of The Fierce Hatred Of The Priests Of Rome Against Our Institutions, Our Schools, Our Most Sacred Rights, And Our So Dearly Bought Liberties, They Would Drive Them Out As Traitors.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

No Organic Law Can Ever Be Framed With A Provision Specifically Applicable To Every Question Which May Occur In Practical Administration. .. No Foresight Can Anticipate Nor Any Document Of Reasonable Length Contain Express Provisions For All Possible Questions.

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

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

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

Getting Back Together

He Who Does Something At The Head Of One Regiment, Will Eclipse Him Who Does Nothing At The Head Of A Hundred.

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

I Have Really Got It Into My Head To Try To Be United States Senator, And, If I Could Have Your Support, My Chances Would Be Reasonably Good. But I Know, And Acknowledge, That You Have As Just Claims To The Place As I Have; And Therefore I Cannot Ask You To Yield To Me, If You Are Thinking Of Becoming A Candidate, Yourself. If, However, You Are Not, Then I Should Like To Be Remembered Affectionately By You; And Also To Have You Make A Mark For Me With The Anti-nebraska Members Down Your Way.

Submitted To The Sec. Of War. On Principle I Dislike An Oath Which Requires A Man To Swear He Has Not Done Wrong. It Rejects The Christian Principle Of Forgiveness On Terms Of Repentance. I Think It Is Enough If The Man Does No Wrong Hereafter.

I Hate It Because Of The Monstrous Injustice Of Slavery Itself. I Hate It Because It Deprives Our Republican Example Of Its Just Influence In The World.

Your Rights End Where My Nose Begins.

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.

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.

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

So Viewing The Issue, No Choice Was Left But To Call Out The War Power Of The Government; And So To Resist Force, Employed For Its Destruction, By Force, For Its Preservation.

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

I Destroy My Enemy If I Make Him My Friend.

I Understand That It Is A Maxim Of Law, That A Poor Plea May Be A Good Plea To A Bad Declaration.

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

As Long As The Almighty Permitted Intelligent Men, Created In His Image And Likeness, To Fight In Public And Kill Each Other While The World Looks On Approvingly, It's Not For Me To Deprive The Chickens Of The Same Privilege.

To Lead, You Must Touch Men's Hearts.

So You're The Little Woman Who Wrote The Book That Made This Great War!

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.

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

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

I Do But Quote From One Of Those Speeches When I Declare That "i Have No Purpose, Directly Or Indirectly, To Interfere With The Institution Of Slavery In The States Where It Exists. I Believe I Have No Lawful Right To Do So, And I Have No Inclination To Do So."

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

It Is Not 'is God On My Side', But 'am I On God's Side'.

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

I Am Rather Inclined To Silence, And Whether That Be Wise Or Not, It Is At Least More Unusual Nowadays To Find A Man Who Can Hold His Tongue Than To Find One Who Cannot.

But In A Larger Sense, We Cannot Dedicate, We Cannot Consecrate, We Cannot Hallow This Ground. The Brave Men, Living And Dead, Who Struggled Here, Have Consecrated It, Far Above Our Poor Power To Add Or To Detract. The World Will Little Note, Nor Long Remember What We Say Here, But It Can Never Forget What They Did Here.

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 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.

There Are No Accidents In My Philosophy. Every Effect Must Have Its Cause. The Past Is The Cause Of The Present, And The Present Will Be The Cause Of The Future. All These Are Links In The Endless Chain Stretching From The Finite To The Infinite.

I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.

The Will Of God Prevails.

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.

Friends, I Agree With You In Providence; But I Believe In The Providence Of The Most Men, The Largest Purse, And The Longest Cannon.

When Judge Douglas Says That Whoever, Or Whatever Community, Wants Slaves, They Have A Right To Have Them, He Is Perfectly Logical If There Is Nothing Wrong In The Institution; But If You Admit That It Is Wrong, He Cannot Logically Say That Anybody Has A Right To Do Wrong.

As A Nation We Began By Declaring That All Me Are Created Equal. We Now Practically Read It, All Men Are Created Equal Except Negroes.

By Adoption Of These Principles, The Long-felt Want For A Uniform Medium Will Be Satisfied. The Taxpayers Will Be Saved Immense Sums Of Interest, Discounts, And Exchanges. The Financing Of All Public Enterprises, The Maintenance Of Stable Government And Ordered Progress, And The Conduct Of The Treasury Will Become Matters Of Practical Administration. The People Can And Will Be Furnished With A Currency As Safe As Their Own Government.

The Greatest Lessons I Have Every Learned Were At My Mother's Knees... All That I Am, Or Hope To Be, I Owe To My Angel Mother.

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

Whatever уоu Are, Bе а Good One.

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

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

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

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

Committee: A Group Which Succeeds In Getting Something Done Only When It Consists Of Three Members, One Of Whom Happens To Be Sick And Another Absent.

Why Should There Not Be A Patient Confidence In The Ultimate Justice Of The People? Is There Any Better Or Equal Hope In The World?

One Is A Majority If He Is Right.

The Demon Of Intemperance Ever Seems To Have Delighted In Sucking The Blood Of Genius And Of Generosity.

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.

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.

A Statesman Is He Who Thinks In The Future Generations, And A Politician Is He Who Thinks In The Upcoming Elections.

Fellow-citizens, We Cannot Escape History. We Of This Congress And This Administration, Will Be Remembered In Spite Of Ourselves. No Personal Significance, Or Insignificance, Can Spare One Or Another Of Us. The Fiery Trial Through Which We Pass, Will Light Us Down, In Honor Or Dishonor, To The Latest Generation.

Your Organization Will Take On The Personality Of Its Top Leaders

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

The People Know Their Rights, And They Are Never Slow To Assert And Maintain Them, When They Are Invaded.

The Mystic Chords Of Memory, Stretching From Every Battle-field, And Patriot Grave, To Every Living Heart And Hearth-stone, All Over This Broad Land, Will Yet Swell The Chorus Of The Union, When Again Touched, As Surely They Will Be, By The Better Angels Of Our Nature. --as Quoted In The River Of Winged Dreams

A Prohibition Law Strikes A Blow At The Very Principles Upon Which Our Government Was Founded.

Character Is The Tree, Reputation Is The Shadow.

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.

It Is Not The Qualified Voters, But The Qualified Voters Who Choose To Vote, That Constitute Political Power.

He Who Sees Cruelty And Does Nothing About It Is Himself Cruel.

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.

We Cannot Ask A Man What He Will Do, And If We Should, And He Should Answer Us, We Should Despise Him For It. Therefore We Must Take A Man Whose Opinions Are Known.

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

When I Get Ready To Talk To People, I Spend Two Thirds Of The Time Thinking What They Want To Hear And One Third Thinking About What I Want To Say.

The Struggle Of Today, Is Not Altogether For Today - It Is For A Vast Future Also. With A Reliance On Providence, All The More Firm And Earnest, Let Us Proceed In The Great Task Which Events Have Devolved Upon Us.

When You Lack Interest In The Case The Job Will Very Likely Lack Skill And Diligence In The Performance.

A Man Watches His Pear-tree Day After Day, Impatient For The Ripening Of The Fruit. Let Him Attempt To Force The Process, And He May Spoil Both Fruit And Tree. But Let Him Patiently Wait, And The Ripe Pear At Length Falls Into His Lap.

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

I Will Prepare And Some Day My Chance Will Come.

A Nation That Does Not Honor Its Heroes Will Not Long Endure.

In Those Days, Our Declaration Of Independence Was Held Sacred By All, And Thought To Include All; But Now, To Aid In The Making The Bondage Of The Negro Universal And Eternal, It Is Assailed, And Sneered At, And Construed, And Hawked At, And Torn, Till, If Its Framers Could Rise From Their Graves, They Could Not At All Recognize It.

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.

He Has A Right To Criticize, Who Has A Heart To Help.

We Can Succeed Only By Concert. It Is Not 'can Any Of Us Imagine Better?, But 'can We All Do Better?

The Constitution Is Not A Suicide Pact.

Everybody Likes Compliment.

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.

The Leading Rule For The Lawyer, As For The Man Of Every Other Calling, Is Diligence. Leave Nothing For To-morrow Which Can Be Done To-day. Never Let Your Correspondence Fall Behind. Whatever Piece Of Business You Have In Hand, Before Stopping, Do All The Labor Pertaining To It Which Can Then Be Done.

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

I Expect To Maintain This Contest Until Successful, Or Till I Die, Or Am Conquered, Or My Term Expires, Or Congress Or The Country Forsakes Me.

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

There Has Never Been But One Question In All Civilization-how To Keep A Few Men From Saying To Many Men: You Work And Earn Bread And We Will Eat It.

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

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 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.

Truth Is Generally The Best Vindication Against Slander

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.

If As The Friends Of Colonization Hope, The Present And Coming Generations Of Our Countrymen Shall By Any Means, Succeed In Freeing Our Land From The Dangerous Presence Of Slavery; And, At The Same Time, In Restoring A Captive People To Their Long-lost Father-land, With Bright Prospects For The Future; And This Too, So Gradually, That Neither Races Nor Individuals Shall Have Suffered By The Change, It Will Indeed Be A Glorious Consummation.

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

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

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

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.

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

What Are You Gonna Do For A Face When The Baboon Wants His Ass Back?

Government Of The People, By The People, For The People, Shall Not Perish From The Earth.

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

All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.

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

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.

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

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

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

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?

You Cannot Help Small Men By Tearing Down Big Men.

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.

With The Fearful Strain That Is On Me Night And Day, If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die.

We Can Not Have Free Government Without Elections; And If The Rebellion Could Force Us To Forego, Or Postpone A National Election It Might Fairly Claim To Have Already Conquered And Ruined Us.

I Am A Firm Believer In The People. If Given The Truth, They Can Be Depended Upon To Meet Any National Crisis. The Great Point Is To Bring Them The Real Facts.

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

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'.

Thus Let Bygones Be Bygones. Let Past Differences, As Nothing Be.

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.

It Is Said An Eastern Monarch Once Charged His Wise Men To Invent Him A Sentence To Be Ever In View, And Which Should Be True And Appropriate In All Times And Situations. They Presented Him The Words, "and This Too, Shall Pass Away." How Much It Expresses! How Chastening In The Hour Of Pride! How Consoling In The Depths Of Affliction!

It's Bad. It's Damned Bad.

Be Excellent And Party On Dudes.

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

There's No Honorable Way To Kill, No Gentle Way To Destroy. There Is Nothing Good In War. Except Its Ending.

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

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.

I Will Either Be America's Greatest President Or Its Last.

You Cannot Fail Unless You Quit.

It Is Not Our Frowning Battlements...or The Strength Our Gallant And Disciplined Army? These Are Not Our Reliance Against A Resumption Of Tyranny In Our Fair Land... Our Defense Is In The Preservation Of The Spirit Which Prizes Liberty As The Heritage Of All Men, In All Lands, Everywhere.

I Can Not But Hate The Prospect Of Slavery's Expansion. I Hate It Because Of The Monstrous Injustice Of Slavery Itself. I Hate It Because It Deprives Our Republican Example Of Its Just Influence In The World-enables The Enemies Of Free Institutions, With Plausibility, To Taunt Us As Hypocrites-causes The Real Friends Of Freedom To Doubt Our Sincerity.

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.

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

I Have Always Found That Mercy Bears Richer Fruits Than Strict Justice.

And Then, There Will Be Some Black Men Who Can Remember That, With Silent Tongue, And Clenched Teeth, And Steady Eye, And Well-poised Bayonnet, They Have Helped Mankind On To This Great Consummation.

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

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.

When The Hour Comes For Dealing With Slavery, I Trust I Will Be Willing To Do My Duty Though It Cost My Life.

I Turn, Then, And Look To The American People And To That God Who Has Never Forsaken Them.

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

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.

Some Single Mind Must Be Master, Else There Will Be No Agreement In Anything.

Single Relationship

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

The World Is Agreed That Labor Is The Source From Which Human Wants Are Mainly Supplied. There Is No Dispute Upon This Point.

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.

The Trouble With Hooker Is That He's Got His Headquarters Where His Hindquarters Aught To Be.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.

Inspirational Life

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.

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 Have A Congenital Aversion To Failure.

In All That People Can Do For Themselves, Government Ought Not To Interfere.

When You Have Got A Ticket To Send, And You're Not A Top Costumer, It's Best Not To Waste Your Time.

The Best Way To Destroy An Enemy Is To Make Him A Friend.

He Who Represents Himself Has A Fool For A Client

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.

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

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

He Will Have To Learn, I Know, That All People Are Not Just- That All Men And Women Are Not True. Teach Him That For Every Scoundrel There Is A Hero That For Every Enemy There Is A Friend. Let Him Learn Early That The Bullies Are The Easiest People To Lick.

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

It Is Easiest To "be All Things To All Men," But It Is Not Honest. Self-respect Must Be Sacrificed Every Hour In The Day.

Hours In The Day

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.

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.

It Is Better Then, To Save The Work While It Is Begun. You Have Done The Labor; Maintain It - Keep It. If Men Choose To Serve You, Go With Them; But As You Have Made Up Your Organization Upon Principle, Stand By It; For As Surely As God Reigns Over You, And Has Inspired Your Mind, And Given You A Sense Of Propriety, And Continues To Give You Hope, So Surely Will You Still Cling To These Ideas, And You Will At Last Come Back After Your Wanderings, Merely To Do Your Work Over Again.

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

I Do Not Think I Could Myself, Be Brought To Support A Man For Office, Whom I Knew To Be An Open Enemy Of, And Scoffer At, Religion. Leaving The Higher Matter Of Eternal Consequences, Between Him And His Maker, I Still Do Not Think Any Man Has The Right Thus To Insult The Feelings, And Injure The Morals, Of The Community In Which He May Live.

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

Many Free Countries Have Lost Their Liberty, And Ours May Lose Hers; But, If She Shall, Be It My Proudest Plume, Not That I Was The Last To Desert, But That I Never Deserted Her.

By The 'mud-sill' Theory It Is Assumed That Labor And Education Are Incompatible; And Any Practical Combination Of Them Impossible. According To That Theory, A Blind Horse Upon A Tread-mill, Is A Perfect Illustration Of What A Laborer Should Be -- All The Better For Being Blind, That He Could Not Tread Out Of Place, Or Kick Understandingly. According To That Theory, The Education Of Laborers, Is Not Only Useless, But Pernicious, And Dangerous. In Fact, It Is, In Some Sort, Deemed A Misfortune That Laborers Should Have Heads At All.

The World Shall Know That I Will Keep My Faith To Friends And Enemies, Come What Will.

Friends And Enemies

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.

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

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

The Unpleasant Events You Are Passing From Will Not Have Been Profitless To You.

I Can See How It Might Be Possible For A Man To Look Down Upon The Earth And Be An Atheist, But I Cannot Conceive How A Man Could Look Up Into The Heavens And Say There Is No God.

I Believe I Shall Never Be Old Enough To Speak Without Embarrassment When I Have Nothing To Talk About.

To Stand In Silence When They Should Be Protesting Makes Cowards Of Men.

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 One Victory We Can Ever Call Complete Will Be That One Which Proclaims That There Is Not One Slave Or One Drunkard On The Face Of God's Green Earth.

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.

That Our Government Should Have Been Maintained In Its Original Form From Its Establishment Until Now, Is Not Much To Be Wondered At. It Had Many Props To Support It Through That Period, Which Now Are Decayed, And Crumbled Away. Through That Period, It Was Felt By All, To Be An Undecided Experiment; Now, It Is Understood To Be A Successful One.

If At Any Time All Labour Should Cease, And All Existing Provisions Be Equally Divided Among The People, At The End Of A Single Year There Could Scarcely Be One Human Being Left Alive--all Would Have Perished By Want Of Subsistence.

I Have Just Read Your Dispatch About Sore-tongued And Fatigued Horses, Will You Pardon Me For Asking What The Horses Of Your Army Have Done Since The Battle Of Antietam That Fatigues Anything?

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

Nothing Is Stronger Than Gentleness.

There' S Nothing Good In War. Except Its Ending.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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David McCullough

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