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It Is Most Cheering And Encouraging For Me To Know That In The Efforts Which I Have Made And Am Making For The Restoration Of A Righteous Peace To Our Country, I Am Upheld And Sustained By The Good Wishes And Prayers Of God's People. No One Is More Deeply Than Myself Aware That Without His Favor Our Highest Wisdom Is But As Foolishness And That Our Most Strenuous Efforts Would Avail Nothing In The Shadow Of His Displeasure.

-Abraham Lincoln

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It Is Most Cheering

Abraham Lincoln

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It Is Most Cheering And Encouraging For Me To Know That In The Efforts Which I Have Made And Am Making For The Restoration Of A Righteous Peace To Our Country, I Am Upheld And Sustained By The Good Wishes And Prayers Of God's People. No One Is More Deeply Than Myself Aware That Without His Favor Our Highest Wisdom Is But As Foolishness And That Our Most Strenuous Efforts Would Avail Nothing In The Shadow Of His Displeasure.

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

In This Age, In This Country, Public Sentiment Is Everything. With It, Nothing Can Fail; Against It, Nothing Can Succeed. Whoever Molds Public Sentiment Goes Deeper Than He Who Enacts Statutes, Or Pronounces Judicial Decisions.

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

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

You Have To Do Your Own Growing No Matter How Tall Your Grandfather Was.

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.

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.

Doubtless You Begin To Understand How Disagreeable It Is To Me To Do A Thing Arbitrarily, When It Is Unsatisfactory To Others Associated With Me.

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

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.

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.

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

It Is Difficult To Make A Man Miserable While He Feels Worthy Of Himself And Claims Kindred To The Great God Who Made Him.

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

There Is Something So Ludicrous In Promises Of Good Or Threats Of Evil A Great Way Off As To Render The Whole Subject With Which They Are Connected Easily Turned Into Ridicule.

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

Teach Hope To All, Despair To None.

The Best Time To Stop A Fight Is Before It Starts. The Best Vitamin For Developing Friends Is B1. The Best Way To Destroy An Enemy In To Make Him A Friend.

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.

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

I Claim Not To Have Controlled Events, But Confess Plainly That Events Have Controlled Me. 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. Whither It Is Tending Seems Plain. If God Now Wills The Removal Of A Great Wrong, And Wills Also That We Of The North As Well As You Of The South, Shall Pay Fairly For Our Complicity In That Wrong, Impartial History Will Find Therein New Cause To Attest And Revere The Justice And Goodness Of God.

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

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

What Constitutes The Bulwark Of Our Own Liberty And Independence?

There Is An Important Sense In Which Government Is Distinctive From Administration. One Is Perpetual, The Other Is Temporary And Changeable. A Man May Be Loyal To His Government And Yet Oppose The Particular Principles And Methods Of Administration.

If I Could Save The Union Without Freeing Any Slave, I Would Do It.

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

[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.

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.

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

Work, Work, Work, Is The Main Thing.

Let Us Re-adopt The Declaration Of Independence, And With It, The Practices, And Policy, Which Harmonize With It. Let North And South - Let All Americans - Let All Lovers Of Liberty Everywhere - Join In The Great And Good Work. If We Do This, We Shall Not Only Have Saved The Union; But We Shall Have So Saved It, As To Make, And To Keep It, Forever Worthy Of The Saving. We Shall Have So Saved It, That The Succeeding Millions Of Free Happy People, The World Over, Shall Rise Up, And Call Us Blessed, To The Latest Generations.

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

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.

The Government Should Create, Issue, And Circulate All The Currency And Credits Needed To Satisfy The Spending Power Of The Government And The Buying Power Of Consumers. By The Adoption Of These Principles, The Taxpayers Will Be Saved Immense Sums Of Interest. Money Will Cease To Be Master And Become The Servant Of Humanity.

We Hope All Danger May Be Overcome; But To Conclude That No Danger May Ever Arise Would Itself Be Extremely Dangerous.

Nothing Will Divert Me From My Purpose.

We All Declare For Liberty; But In Using The Same Word We Do Not All Mean The Same Thing. With Some The Word Liberty May Mean For Each Man To Do As He Pleases With Himself, And The Product Of His Labor; While With Others, The Same Word Many Mean For Some Men To Do As They Please With Other Men, And The Product Of Other Men's Labor. Here Are Two, Not Only Different, But Incompatible Things, Called By The Same Name - Liberty. And It Follows That Each Of The Things Is, By The Respective Parties, Called By Two Different And Incompatible Names - Liberty And Tyranny.

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.

...i Am Exceedingly Anxious That This Union, The Constitution, And The Liberties Of The People Shall Be Perpetuated In Accordance With The Original Idea For Which That Struggle Was Made, And I Shall Be Most Happy Indeed If I Shall Be An Humble Instrument In The Hands Of The Almighty, And Of This, His Almost Chosen People, For Perpetuating The Object Of That Great Struggle.

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.

There Was The Strangest Combination Of Church Influence Against Me. Baker Is A Campbellite; And Therefore, As I Suppose With Few Exceptions, Got All Of That Church. My Wife Had Some Relations In The Presbyterian Churches, And Some In The Episcopal Churches; And Therefore, Wherever It Would Tell, I Was Set Down As Either One Or The Other, While It Was Everywhere Contended That No Christian Ought To Vote For Me Because I Belonged To No Church, And Was Suspected Of Being A Deist And Had Talked Of Fighting A Duel.

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.

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

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

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

Single Relationship

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

You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!

It Is Rather For Us Here Dedicated To The Great Task Remaining Before Us, That From These Honored Dead We Take Increased Devotion To That Cause For Which They Gave The Last Full Measure Of Devotion.

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

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

Surely He Intends Some Great Good To Follow This Mighty Convulsion Which No Mortal Could Make, And No Mortal Could Stay.

The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours To Have Laid So Costly A Sacrifice Upon The Altar Of Freedom.

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

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

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

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.

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 Know The Hole He Went In At, But I Can't Tell You What Hole He Will Come Out Of.

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

It Is A Pleasure To Be Able To Quote Lines To Fit Any Occasion.

I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.

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.

Nothing In This World Is Impossible To A Willing Heart.

Tis Better People Think You A Fool, Then Open Your Mouth And Erase All Doubt.

I Repeat The Declaration Made A Year Ago, That 'while I Remain In My Present Position I Shall Not Attempt To Retract Or Modify The Emancipation Proclamation, Nor Shall I Return To Slavery Any Person Who Is Free By The Terms Of That Proclamation, Or By Any Of The Acts Of Congress.' If The People Should, By Whatever Mode Or Means, Make It An Executive Duty To Re-enslave Such Persons, Another, And Not I, Must Be Their Instrument To Perform It.

What Kills A Skunk Is The Publicity It Gives Itself.

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.

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

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.

Hypocrite: The Man Who Murdered His Parents, And Then Pleaded For Mercy On The Grounds That He Was An Orphan.

In The Way Our Fathers Originally Left The Slavery Question, The Institution Was In The Course Of Ultimate Extinction, And The Public Mind Rested In The Belief That It Was In The Course Of Ultimate Extinction . . . . All I Have Asked Or Desired Anywhere, Is That It Should Be Placed Back Again Upon The Basis That The Fathers Of Our Government Originally Placed It Upon.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

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.

In Times Like The Present, Men Should Utter Nothing For Which They Would Not Willingly Be Responsible Through Time And Eternity.

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

As We Keep Or Break The Sabbath Day We Nobly Save Or Meanly Lose The Last Best Hope By Which Man Rises.

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; Asbad And Good.

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

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

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.

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

If The Negro Is A Man, Why Then My Ancient Faith Teaches Me That ‘all Men Are Created Equal,' And That There Can Be No Moral Right In Connection With One Man's Making A Slave Of Another.

I Have No Wealthy Or Popular Relations To Recommend Me.

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

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

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.

Everyone Likes A Good Quote - Don't Forget To Share.

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

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'.

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

I Think I Stand Where That Man Stands.

I Am Not Bound To Win, But I Am Bound To Be True. I Am Not Bound To Succeed, But I Am Bound To Live Up To What Light I Have.

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

There Is No Greater Injustice Than To Wring Your Profits From The Sweat Of Another Man's Brow.

Adhere To Your Purpose And You Will Soon Feel As Well As You Ever Did. On The Contrary, If You Falter, And Give Up, You Will Lose The Power Of Keeping Any Resolution, And Will Regret It All Your Life.

I Believe, If We Take Habitual Drunkards As A Class, Their Heads And Their Hearts Will Bear An Advantageous Comparison With Those Of Any Other Class. There Seems Ever To Have Been A Proneness In The Brilliant And Warm-blooded To Fall Into This Vice.

While I Have Often Said That All Men Out To Be Free, Yet I Would Allow Those Colored Persons To Be Slaves Who Want To Be; And Next To Them Those White Persons Who Argue In Favor Of Making Other People Slaves. I Am In Favor Of Giving An Opportunity To Such White Men To Try It On For Themselves.

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

I Have Always Wanted To Deal With Everyone I Meet Candidly And Honestly. If I Have Made Any Assertion Not Warranted By Facts, And It Is Pointed Out To Me, I Will Withdraw It Cheerfully.

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

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

It Is Safe To Assert That No Government Proper Ever Had A Provision In Its Organic Law For Its Own Termination.

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

Avoid Popularity If You Would Have Peace.

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.

Did Stanton Say I Was A Damned Fool? Then I Dare Say I Must Be One, For Stanton Is Generally Right And He Always Says What He Means.

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

I Think That One Of The Causes Of These Repeated Failures Is That Our Best And Greatest Men Have Greatly Underestimated The Size Of This Question (slavery). They Have Constantly Brought Forward Small Cures For Great Sores-plasters Too Small To Cover The Wound. That Is One Reason That All Settlements Have Proved So Temporary-so Evanescent.

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.

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

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

Short And Sweet

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

The Bible Says Somewhere That We Are Desperately Selfish. I Think We Would Have Discovered That Fact Without The Bible.

To Give Victory To The Right, Not Bloody Bullets, But Peaceful Ballots Only, Are Necessary.

Character Is The Tree, Reputation Is The Shadow.

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.

The Legitimate Object Of Government Is To Do For A Community Of People Whatever They Need To Have Done, But Can Not Do At All, Or Can Not So Well Do, For Themselves – In Their Separate, And Individual Capacities.

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.

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

My Best Friend Is A Person Who Will Give Me A Book I Have Not Read.

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

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

Lamon, That Speech Won't Scour. It Is A Flat Failure And The People Are Disappointed.

The Almighty Has His Own Purposes.

Stand With Anybody That Stands Right, Stand With Him While He Is Right And Part With Him When He Goes Wrong.

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.

It Is Much Easier To Ride A Horse In The Direction It Is Going.

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 Can't Spare This Man, He Fights!

In 1841 You And I Had Together A Tedious Low-water Trip, On A Steam Boat From Louisville To St. Louis. You May Remember, As I Well Do, That From Louisville To The Mouth Of The Ohio There Were, On Board, Ten Or A Dozen Slaves, Shackled Together With Irons. That Sight Was A Continual Torment To Me; And I See Something Like It Every Time I Touch The Ohio, Or Any Other Slave-border.

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

Constitution Of The United States

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

Thoughtful Men Must Feel That The Fate Of Civilization Upon This Continent Is Involved In The Issue Of Our Contest. Among The Most Satisfying Proofs Of This Conviction Is The Hearty Devotion Everywhere Exhibited By Our Schools And Colleges To The National Cause.

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

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

All Creation Is A Mine, And Every Man A Miner.

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.

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.

You Can Have Anything You Want If You Want It Badly Enough. You Can Be Anything You Want To Be, Do Anything You Set Out To Accomplish If You Hold To That Desire With Singleness Of Purpose.

Let Us Hopethat By The Best Cultivation Of The Physical World, Beneath And Around Us; And The Intellectual And Moral World Within Us, We Shall Secure An Individual, Social And Political Prosperity And Happiness, Whose Course Shall Be Onward And Upward, And Which, While The Earth Endures, Shall Not Pass Away.

Onward And Upward

You Dislike The Emancipation Proclamation; And, Perhaps, Would Have It Retracted. You Say It Is Unconstitutional - I Think Differently.

Emancipation Proclamation

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.

Labor Is The True Standard Of Value.

The Most Reliable Way To Predict The Future Is To Create It.

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

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.

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.

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

I Shall Not Do More Than I Can, And I Shall Do All I Can To Save The Government, Which Is My Sworn Duty As Well As My Personal Inclination. I Shall Do Nothing In Malice. What I Deal With Is Too Vast For Malicious Dealing.

But, Slavery Is Good For Some People! ! ! As A Good Thing, Slavery Is Strikingly Peculiar, In This, That It Is The Only Good Thing Which No Man Ever Seeks The Good Of, For Himself.

One's Only Security In Life Comes From Doing Something Uncommonly Well.

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

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

War, At The Best, Is Terrible, And This War Of Ours, In Its Magnitude And In Its Duration, Is One Of The Most Terrible.

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

The Bible Is Not My Book And Christianity Is Not My Religion. I Could Never Give Assent To The Long Complicated Statements Of Christian Dogma.

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.

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

Marriage Is Neither Heaven Nor Hell, It Is Simply Purgatory.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

A Long Visit To A Friend Is Often A Great Bore. Never Make People Twice Glad.

Inspirational Life

I Am Nothing, Truth Is Everything.

I Agree With You, Mr. Chairman, That The Working Men Are The Basis Of All Governments, For The Plain Reason That They Are The More Numerous, And As You Added That Those Were The Sentiments Of The Gentlemen Present, Representing Not Only The Working Class, But Citizens Of Other Callings Than Those Of The Mechanic, I Am Happy To Concur With You In These Sentiments, Not Only Of The Native Born Citizens, But Also Of The Germans And Foreigners From Other Countries.

I Want In All Cases To Do Right.

A Man Has Not The Time To Spend Half His Life In Quarrels. If Any Man Ceases To Attack Me, I Never Remember The Past Against Him.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

The Plainest Print Cannot Be Read Through A Gold Eagle.

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

Every Man's Happiness Is His Own Responsibility.

If We Believe The Bible, We Must Accept The Fact That, In The Old Days, God And His Angels Came To Humans In Their Sleep And Made Themselves Known In Dreams.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

You Already Know I Desire That Neither Father Or Mother Shall Be In Want Of Any Comfort Either In Health Or Sickness While They Live.

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.

I Do Not Boast That God Is On My Side, I Humbly Pray That I Am On God's Side.

In Giving Freedom To The Slave, We Assure Freedom To The Free - Honorable Alike In What We Give And What We Preserve. We Shall Nobly Save, Or Meanly Lose, The Last Best Hope Of Earth.

Congress And The President

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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