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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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In This Troublesome World,

Abraham Lincoln

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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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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.

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

Too Many Piglets Not Enough Tits.

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

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

My Father Taught Me To Work; He Did Not Teach Me To Love It.

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.

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

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

Now, And Ever, I Shall Do All In My Power For Peace, Consistently With The Maintenance Of Government.

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.

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.

Everybody Appreciates A Compliment.

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

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

I Am For Those Means Which Will Give The Greatest Good To The Greatest Number.

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

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

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

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.

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

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

Both Read The Same Bible And Pray To The Same God, And Each Invokes His Aid Against The Other.

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

In My Entire Life I Have Only Met Four "perfect" People... And I Disliked Them All.

When I So Pressingly Urge A Strict Observance Of All The Laws, Let Me Not Be Understood As Saying There Are No Bad Laws, Nor That Grievances May Not Arise, For The Redress Of Which, No Legal Provisions Have Been Made. I Mean To Say No Such Thing. But I Do Mean To Say, That, Although Bad Laws, If They Exist, Should Be Repealed As Soon As Possible, Still While They Continue In Force, For The Sake Of Example, They Should Be Religiously Observed.

Now, At The End Of Three Years Struggle The Nation's Condition Is Not What Either Party, Or Any Man Devised, Or Expected. God Alone Can Claim It.

One Section Of Our Country Believes Slavery Is Right, And Ought To Be Extended, While The Other Believes It Is Wrong, And Ought Not To Be Extended.

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

We Find Ourselves Under The Government Of A System Of Political Institutions, Conducing More Essentially To The Ends Of Civil And Religious Liberty, Than Any Of Which The History Of Former Times Tells Us.

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

[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.

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

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

No Man Ever Got Lost On A Straight Road.

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

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.

Money Will Cease To Be Master And Become The Servant Of Humanity. Democracy Will Rise Superior To The Money Power.

The Purposes Of The Almighty Are Perfect, And Must Prevail, Though We Erring Mortals May Fail To Accurately Perceive Them In Advance.

The Union Is Much Older Than The Constitution. It Was Formed In Fact, By The Articles Of Association In 1774. It Was Matured And Continued By The Declaration Of Independence In 1776.

It Has Been Said That One Bad General Is Better Than Two Good Ones, And The Saying Is True If Taken To Mean No More Than That An Army Is Better Directed By A Single Mind, Though Inferior, Than By Two Superior Ones At Variance And Cross-purposes With Each Other. And The Same Is True In All Joint Operations Wherein Those Engaged Can Have None But A Common End In View And Can Differ Only As To The Choice Of Means. In A Storm At Sea No One On Board Can Wish The Ship To Sink, And Yet Not Unfrequently All Go Down Together Because Too Many Will Direct And No Single Mind Can Be Allowed To Control.

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.

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

Moral Principle Is A Looser Bond Than Pecuniary Interest.

Confused And Stunned, Like A Duck Hit On The Head.

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 Can’t Make A Weak Man Strong By Making A Strong Man Weak

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

I Never Had A Policy; I Have Just Tried To Do My Very Best Each And Every Day.

If You Have Never Failed You Have Never Lived.

Short Inspirational Life

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Single Relationship

And By Virtue Of The Power, And For The Purpose Aforesaid, I Do Order And Declare That All Persons Held As Slaves Within Said Designated States, And Parts Of States, Are, And Henceforward Shall Be Free; And That The Executive Government Of The United States, Including The Military And Naval Authorities Thereof, Will Recognize And Maintain The Freedom Of Said Persons.

The Best Way To Get Rid Of Your Enemies Is To Make Them Your Friends.

The Ant, Who Has Toiled And Dragged A Crumb To His Nest, Will Furiously Defend The Fruit Of His Labor, Against Whatever Robber Assails Him. So Plain, That The Most Dumb And Stupid Slave That Ever Toiled For A Master, Does Constantly Know That He Is Wronged.

We Must Free The Slaves Or Be Ourselves Subdued.

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

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

I Always [or "often"] Walk Slowly, But I Never Walk Backwards.

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

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.

A Child Is A Person Who Is Going To Carry On What You Have Started ... He Will Assume Control Of Your Cities, States And Nations. He Is Going To Move In And Take Over Your Churches, Schools, Universities, And Corporations ... The Fate Of Humanity Is In His Hands.

You Cannot Fail Unless You Quit.

The Petition Of Persons Under Eighteen, Praying That I Would Free All Slave Children, And The Heading Of Which Petition It Appears You Wrote, Was Handed Me A Few Days Since By Senator Sumner. Please Tell These Little People I Am Very Glad Their Young Hearts Are So Full Of Just And Generous Sympathy, And That, While I Have Not The Power To Grant All They Ask, I Trust They Will Remember That God Has, And That, As It Seems, He Wills To Do It.

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.

With Malice Towards None; With Charity For All.

The Legalized Liquor Business Is The Tragedy Of Our Civilization. Alcohol Is The Greatest And Most Blighting Curse Of Our Modern Civilization. The Liquor Seller Is Simply And Only A Privileged Malefactor - A Criminal.

Laughter Can Be Used To Sooth The Mind And Get Rid Of Those Awful Thoughts.

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.

Behind The Cloud The Sun Is Still Shining.

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

To Say A Sheep Has 5 Legs Doesn't Make It So.

Whenever I Hear Anyone Arguing For Slavery, I Feel A Strong Impulse To See It Tried On Him Personally.

And While It Has Not Pleased The Almighty To Bless Us With A Return Of Peace, We Can But Press On, Guided By The Best Light He Gives, Trusting That In His Own Good Time, And Wise Way, All Will Yet Be Well.

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

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

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

It's Bad. It's Damned Bad.

Lets Have Faith That Right Makes Might; And In That Faith Let Us, To The End, Dare To Do Our Duty As We Understand It.

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

The People When Rightly And Fully Trusted Will Return The Trust.

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

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.

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

Congress And The President

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

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.

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

The 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.

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

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 Believe This Government Cannot Endure, Permanently Half Slave And Half Free.

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

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.

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.

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.

Don’t Criticize Them; They Are Just What We Would Be Under Similar Circumstances.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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".

Nations Do Not Die From Invasion; They Die From Internal Rottenness.

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.

When Any Church Will Inscribe Over Its Altar, As Its Sole Qualification For Membership, The Savior's Condensed Statement Of The Substance Of Both Law And Gospel, 'thou Shalt Love The Lord Thy God With All Thy Heart, And With All Thy Soul And Thy Neighbor As Thyself' That Church Will I Join With All My Heart And All My Soul.

The Bible Is Not My Book Nor Christianity My Profession. I Could Never Give Assent To The Long, Complicated Statements Of Christian Dogma.

Politics, As A Trade, Finds Most And Leaves Nearly All Dishonest.

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

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

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

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

As The Chief Speaker At The Dedication Of The National Cemetery At The Gettysburg Battlefield, Statesman Edward Everett Wrote To Lincoln: I Should Be Glad If I Could Flatter Myself That I Came As Near To The Central Idea Of The Occasion In Two Hours As You Did In Two Minutes.

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!

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

Men Are Not Flattered By Being Shown That There Has Been A Difference Of Purpose Between The Almighty And Them. To Deny It, However, In This Case, Is To Deny That There Is A God Governing The World. It Is A Truth Which I Thought Needed To Be Told; And As Whatever Of Humilation There Is In It, Falls Most Directly On Myself, I Thought Others Might Afford For Me To Tell It.

My Father Taught Me To Work, But Not To Love It. I Never Did Like To Work, And I Don't Deny It. I'd Rather Read, Tell Stories, Crack Jokes, Talk, Laugh -- Anything But Work.

The Dogmas Of The Quiet Past Are Inadequate To The Stormy Present.

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

I Have Come To The Conclusion Never Again To Think Of Marrying, And For This Reason, I Can Never Be Satisfied With Anyone Who Would Be Blockhead Enough To Have Me.

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.

As President, I Have No Eyes But Constitutional Eyes; I Cannot See You.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition.

Repeal The Missouri Compromise - Repeal All Compromises - Repeal The Declaration Of Independence - Repeal All Past History, You Still Can Not Repeal Human Nature. It Still Will Be The Abundance Of Man's Heart, That Slavery Extension Is Wrong; And Out Of The Abundance Of His Heart, His Mouth Will Continue To Speak.

My Wife Is As Handsome As When She Was A Girl, And I...fell In Love With Her; And What Is More, I Have Never Fallen Out.

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

Constitution Of The United States

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.

Teach Economy. That Is One Of The First And Highest Virtues. It Begins With Saving Money.

My Paramount Objective In This Struggle Is To Save The Union, And Is Not To Either Save Or Destroy Slavery.

...i Do Not Mean To Say That This General Government Is Charged With The Duty Of Redressing Or Preventing All The Wrongs In The World; But I Do Think That It Is Charged With The Duty Of Preventing And Redressing All Wrongs Which Are Wrongs To Itself.

Life May Not Always Be A Bed Of Roses. All Of Us Are Aware Of This Fact. There Are Numerous Times In Life When We Have To Face Disappointments. These Quotes And Sayings Surely Do Inspire And Help Us To Look Forward And Enjoy The New Pathways Coming Our Way. These Quotes Also Lend A Different Perspective To Life, Which Makes Moving Forward Not A Very Difficult Task.i Hope To Stand Firm Enough To Not Go Backward, And Yet Not Go Forward Fast Enough To Wreck The Country's Cause.

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.

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

I Don't Believe In A Law To Prevent A Man From Getting Rich; It Would Do More Harm Than Good. So While We Do Not Propose Any War Upon Capital, We Do Wish To Allow The Humblest Man An Equal Chance To Get Rich With Everybody Else.

Most Governments Have Been Based, Practically, On The Denial Of Equal Rights Of Menours Began, By Affirming Those Rights. They Said, Some Men Are Too Ignorant, And Vicious, To Share In Government. Possibly So, Said We; And, By Your System, You Would Always Keep Them Ignorant, And Vicious. We Proposed To Give All A Chance; And We Expected The Weak To Grow Stronger, The Ignorant Wiser; And All Better, And Happier Together.

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

The World Has Never Had A Good Definition Of The Word Liberty

Always Remember: Life Is For Enjoying.

Inspirational Life

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.

Life Is Hard But So Very Beautiful

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

Public Sentiment Is Everything. With Public Sentiment, Nothing Can Fail. Without It, Nothing Can Succeed.

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

The Father Of Waters Again Goes Unvexed To The Sea.

No Man Is Good Enough To Govern Another Man Without The Other's Consent.

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

There Is Really No Crisis Except An Artificial One...if The Great American People Will Only Keep Their Temper, On Both Sides Of The Line, The Trouble Will Come To An End.

Great Men Are Ordinary Men With Extra Ordinary Determination.

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

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

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.

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.

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

The Case Of Andrews Is Really A Very Bad One, As Appears By The Record Already Before Me. Yet Before Receiving This I Had Orderedhis Punishment Commuted To Imprisonmentand Had So Telegraphed. I Did This, Not On Any Merit In The Case, But Because I Am Trying To Evade The Butchering Business Lately.

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

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

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.

Beware Of Rashness, But With Energy And Sleepless Vigilance Go Forward And Give Us Victories.

It Has Been Said That One Bad General Is Better Than Two Good Ones, And The Saying Is True If Taken To Mean No More Than That An Army Is Better Directed By A Single Mind, Though Inferior, Than By Two Superior Ones At Variance And Cross-purposes With Each Other.

No Man Is Poor Who Has A Godly Mother.

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

Be Excellent And Party On Dudes.

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.

We Here Highly Resolve That These Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain.

In This Sad World Of Ours Sorrow Comes To All And It Often Comes With Bitter Agony. Perfect Relief Is Not Possible Except With Time. You Cannot Now Believe That You Will Ever Feel Better. But This Is Not True. You Are Sure To Be Happy Again. Knowing This, Truly Believing It Will Make You Less Miserable Now. I Have Had Enough Experience To Make This Statement.

Slavery Is Wrong. If Slavery Is Right, All Words, Acts, Laws, And Constitutions Against It, Are Themselves Wrong, And Should Be Silenced, And Swept Away.

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.

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

If Frienship Is Your Weakest Point Then You Are The Strongest Person In The World.

A Majority Held In Restraint By Constitutional Checks And Limitations, And Always Changing Easily With Deliberate Changes Of Popular Opinions And Sentiments, Is The Only True Sovereign Of A Free People. Whoever Rejects It Does Of Necessity Fly To Anarchy Or To Despotism. Unanimity Is Impossible. The Rule Of A Minority, As A Permanent Arrangement, Is Wholly Inadmissible; So That, Rejecting The Majority Principle, Anarchy Or Despotism In Some Form Is All That Is Left.

All True Wisdom Is Found On T-shirts.

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

As I Would Not Be A Slave, So I Would Not Be A Master. This Expresses My Idea Of Democracy.

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

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.

My Experience Has Taught Me That A Man Who Has No Vices Has Damned Few Virtues.

Every Man Is Proud Of What He Does Well; And No Man Is Proud Of What He Does Not Do Well. With The Former, His Heart Is In His Work; And He Will Do Twice As Much Of It With Less Fatigue. The Latter Performs A Little Imperfectly, Looks At It In Disgust, Turns From It, And Imagines Himself Exceedingly Tired. The Little He Has Done, Comes To Nothing, For Want Of Finishing.

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

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

Washington's Is The Mightiest Name Of Earth - Long Since Mightiest In The Cause Of Civil Liberty; Still Mightiest In Moral Reformation. On That Name No Eulogy Is Expected. It Cannot Be. To Add Brightness To The Sun, Or Glory To The Name Of Washington, Is Alike Impossible. Let None Attempt It. In Solemn Awe Pronounce The Name, And In Its Naked Deathless Splendor Leave It Shining On.

No Client Ever Had Money Enough To Bribe My Conscience Or To Stop Its Utterance Against Wrong, And Oppression.

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

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

I Want It Said Of Me By Those Who Knew Me Best, That I Always Plucked A Thistle And Planted A Flower Where I Thought A Flower Would Grow.

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.

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

I Don't S'pose Anybody On Earth Likes Gingerbread Better'n I Do-and Gets Less'n I Do.

As A General Rule, I Abstain From Reading Reports Of Attacks Upon Myself, Wishing Not To Be Provoked By That To Which I Cannot Properly Offer An Answer.

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

Abraham Lincoln Was Asked By An Aide About The Church Service He Had Attended. Lincoln Responded That The Minister Was Inspired, Interesting, Well-prepared, Eloquent And The Topic Relevant. The Aide Said, “then It Was A Good Service?” Lincoln Responded, “no.” The Aide Protested, “but, Mr. President, You Said That The Minister Was Inspired, Interesting, Well-prepared, Eloquent, And That The Topic Was Relevant.” “yes,” Replied Lincoln, “but He Didn’t Challenge Us To Do Any Great Thing.

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.

Education Does Not Mean Teaching People What They Do Not Know. It Means Teaching Them To Behave As They Do Not Behave.

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

All I Ask For The Negro Is That If You Do Not Like Him, Let Him Alone. If God Gave Him But Little, That Little Let Him Enjoy.

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Vernon L. Smith

Arthur Schopenhauer

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