Background Image

...

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!

-Abraham Lincoln

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

It Is Said An

Abraham Lincoln

...

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!

Views: 6

Topic

More From Abraham Lincoln

Both Parties Deprecated War; But One Of Them Would Make War Rather Than Let The Nation Survive; And The Other Would Accept War Rather Than Let It Perish. And The War Came.

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

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

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

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

I Find Quite As Much Material For A Lecture In Those Points Wherein I Have Failed, As In Those Wherein I Have Been Moderately Successful.

Kindness Is The Only Service That Will Stand The Storm Of Life And Not Wash Out. It Will Wear Well And Will Be Remembered Long After The Prism Of Politeness Or The Complexion Of Courtesy Has Faded Away.

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.

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.

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

Man Is Not The Only Animal Who Labors; But He Is The Only One Who Improves His Workmanship.

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

Progress Of Society

Without The Constitution And The Union, We Could Not Have Attained The Result; But Even These, Are Not The Primary Cause Of Our Great Prosperity. There Is Something Back Of These, Entwining Itself More Closely About The Human Heart. That Something, Is The Principle Of "liberty To All" The Principle That Clears The Path For All-gives Hope To All-and, By Consequence, Enterprize [sic], And Industry To All.

I Trust That As He Shall Further Open The Way, I Will Be Ready To Walk Therein, Relying On His Help And Trusting In His Goodness And Wisdom.

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

I Could Not Sleep When I Got On The Hunt For An Idea, Until I Had Caught It. This Was A Kind Of Passion With Me, And It Has Stuck With Me.

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.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

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

. . . Peace Is A Thing Which A Person Must Be Willing To Fight For . . .

I Know Not How To Aid You, Save In The Assurance Of One Of Mature Age, And Much Severe Experience, That You Can Not Fail, If You Resolutely Determine, That You Will Not.

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

I Could Write Shorter Sermons But When I Get Started I'm Too Lazy To Stop

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

I Am Absent Altogether Too Much To Be A Suitable Instructor For A Law-student. When A Man Has Reached The Age That Mr. Widner Has,and Has Already Been Doing For Himself, My Judgment Is, That He Reads The Books For Himself Without An Instructor. That Is Precisely The Way I Came To The Law.

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.

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

The Things I Want To Know Are In Books; My Best Friend Is The Man Who'll Get Me A Book I Ain't Read.

I Believe The Bible Is The Best Gift God Has Ever Given To Man.

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

In Your Hands, My Dissatisfied Fellow Countrymen, And Not In Mine, Is The Momentous Issue Of Civil War. The Government Will Not Assail You.... You Have No Oath Registered In Heaven To Destroy The Government, While I Shall Have The Most Solemn One To Preserve, Protect And Defend It.

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

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

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

Honor To The Soldier And Sailor Everywhere, Who Bravely Bears His Country's Cause. Honor, Also, To The Citizen Who Cares For His Brother In The Field And Serves, As He Best Can, The Same Cause.

I Walk Slowly, But Never Backwards.

In Your Hands, My Dissatisfied Fellow-countrymen, And Not In Mine, Is The Momentous Issue Of Civil War.

I Am Busily Engaged In The Study Of The Bible. I Believe It Is God's Word Because It Finds Me Where I Am.

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.

Those Who Look For The Bad In People Will Surely Find It.

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

I Have Endured A Great Deal Of Ridicule Without Much Malice; And Have Received A Great Deal Of Kindness, Not Quite Free From Ridicule. I Am Used To It.

I Destroy My Enemy If I Make Him My Friend.

The Master Not Only Governs The Slave Without His Consent, But He Governs Him By A Set Of Rules Altogether Different From Those Which He Prescribes For Himself. Allow All The Governed An Equal Voice In The Government, And That, And That Only, Is Self-government.

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.

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

The Assertion That 'all Men Are Created Equal' Was Of No Practical Use In Effecting Our Separation From Great Britain And It Was Placed In The Declaration Not For That, But For Future Use.

We Shall Yet Acknowledge His Wisdom And Our Own Error Therein.

What Constitutes The Bulwark Of Our Own Liberty And Independence? It Is Not...the Guns Of Our War Steamers, Or The Strength Of Our Gallant And Disciplined Army...our Reliance Is In The Love Of Liberty Which God Has Planted In Our Bosoms...

We Seek Not To Overthrow The Constitution, But To Overthrow Those Who Would Prevert It.

He Has Got The Slows, Mr. Blair.

To Lead, You Must Touch Men's Hearts.

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

Glory To God In The Highest, Ohio Has Saved The Nation.

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

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

Our Progress In Degeneracy Appears To Me To Be Pretty Rapid.

We Think Slavery A Great Moral Wrong, And While We Do Not Claim The Right To Touch It Where It Exists, We Wish To Treat It As A Wrong In The Territories, Where Our Votes Will Reach It.

All That I Am, Or Hope To Be, I Owe To My Angel Mother.

The Money Power Preys On The Nation In Times Of Peace, And Conspires Against It In Times Of Adversity. It Is More Despotic Than Monarchy, More Insolent Than Autocracy, More Selfish Than Bureaucracy. It Denounces, As Public Enemies, All Who Question Its Methods Or Throw Light Upon Its Crimes.

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

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

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

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.

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

Freedom Is The Last, Best Hope Of Earth.

A Capacity, And Taste, For Reading, Gives Access To Whatever Has Already Been Discovered By Others. It Is The Key, Or One Of The Keys, To The Already Solved Problems. And Not Only So. It Gives A Relish, And Facility, For Successfully Pursuing The [yet] Unsolved Ones.

Bad Promises Are Better Broken Than Kept.

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.

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

Law Is Nothing Else But The Best Reason Of Wise Men Applied For Ages To The Transactions And Business Of Mankind.

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

Quarrel Not At All. No Man Resolved To Make The Most Of Himself Can Spare Time For Personal Contention.

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.

An Inspection Of The Constitution Will Show That The Right Of Property In A Slave In Not "distinctly And Expressly Affirmed" In It.

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

Labor Is The Superior Of Capital, And Deserves Much The Higher Consideration

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

We Live In The Midst Of Alarms; Anxiety Beclouds The Future; We Expect Some New Disaster With Each Newspaper We Read.

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.

If Both Factions, Or Neither, Shall Abuse You, You Will Probably Be About Right. Beware Of Being Assailed By One And Praised By The Other.

We Accepted This War For An Object, A Worthy Object, And The War Will End When That Object Is Attained. Under God, I Hope It Never Will Until That Time.

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.

If It Were Not For My Firm Belief In An Overruling Providence, It Would Be Difficult For Me, In The Midst Of Such Complications Of Affairs, To Keep My Reason On Its Seat. But I Am Confident That The Almighty Has His Plans, And Will Work Them Out; And, Whether We See It Or Not, They Will Be The Best For Us.

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.

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

I Am Naturally Anti-slavery. If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong. I Can Not Remember When I Did Not So Think, And Feel. And Yet I Have Never Understood That The Presidency Conferred Upon Me An Unrestricted Right To Act Officially Upon This Judgment And Feeling.

Give Me Six Hours To Chop Down A Tree And I Will Spend The First Four Sharpening The Axe.

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.

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

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.

Nothing In This World Is Impossible To A Willing Heart.

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.

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

Now If You Should Hear Any One Say That Lincoln Don't [sic] Want To Go To Congress, I Wish You As A Personal Friend Of Mine, Wouldtell Him That You Have Reason To Believe He Is Mistaken.

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

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

These Men Ask For Just The Same Thing, Fairness, And Fairness Only. This, So Far As In My Power, They, And All Others, Shall Have.

The Will Of God Prevails.

I See A Very Dark Cloud On America's Horizon, And That Cloud Is Coming From Rome.

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.

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

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.

No Matter How Much Cats Fight, There Always Seem To Be Plenty Of Kittens.

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.

Whatever Woman May Cast Her Lot With Mine, Should Any Ever Do So, It Is My Intention To Do All In My Power To Make Her Happy And Contented; And There Is Nothing I Can Imagine That Would Make Me More Unhappy Than To Fail In The Effort.

Twenty-two Years Ago Judge [then-senator Stephen] Douglas And I First Became Acquainted. We Were Both Young Then; He A Trifle Younger Than I. Even Then, We Were Both Ambitious; I, Perhaps, Quite As Much So As He. With Me, The Race Of Ambition Has Been A Failure--a Flat Failure; With Him It Has Been One Of Splendid Success.

I See In The Near Future A Crisis Approaching That Unnerves Me And Causes Me To Tremble For The Safety Of My Country... Corporations Have Been Enthroned And An Era Of Corruption In High Places Will Follow, And The Money Power Of The Country Will Endeavor To Prolong Its Reign By Working Upon The Prejudices Of The People Until All Wealth Is Aggregated In A Few Hands And The Republic Is Destroyed.

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.

Whenever There Is A Conflict Between Human Rights And Property Rights, Human Rights Must Prevail.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Intoxicated With Unbroken Success, We Have Become Too Self Sufficient To Feel The Necessity Of Redeeming And Preserving Grace, Too Proud To Pray To The God That Made Us.

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.

If There Is A Worse Place Than Hell, I Am In It.

I Know There Is A God, And That He Hates Injustice And Slavery. I See The Storm Coming, And I Know That His Hand Is In It. If He Has A Place And Work For Me - And I Think He Has - I Believe I Am Ready.

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

I Would Like To Speak In Terms Of Praise Due To The Many Brave Officers And Soldiers Who Have Fought In The Cause Of The War.

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

[if Not Re-elected In 1864] Then It Will Be My Duty To So Co-operate With The President Elect, As To Save The Union Between The Election And The Inauguration; As He Will Have Secured His Election On Such Ground That He Can Not Possibly Save It Afterwards.

We Should Be Too Big To Take Offense And Too Noble To Give It.

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

We Must Free The Slaves Or Be Ourselves Subdued.

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.

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

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

I Am Busily Engaged In Study Of The Bible.

Nearly All Men Can Stand Adversity, But If You Want To Test A Man's Character, Give Him Power.

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

I Pray That Our Heavenly Father May Assuage The Anguish Of Your Bereavement, And Leave You Only The Cherished Memory Of The Loved And Lost, And The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours, To Have Laid So Costly A Sacrifice Upon The Altar Of Freedom.

But For That Book, We Could Not Know Right From Wrong.

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

Our Popular Government Has Often Been Called An Experiment. Two Points In It Our People Have Already Settled, The Successful Establishing And The Successful Administering Of It. One Still Remains, Its Successful Maintenance Against A Formidable Internal Attempt To Overthrow It.

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

Faith Is Not Believing That God Can, But That God Will.

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

God Is The Silent Partner In All Great Enterprises.

It Is For Us And Our Time...to Say The Right Makes Might.

Nothing Is Stronger Than Gentleness.

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

The Lord Spared The Fitten And The Rest He Seen Fitten To Die.

I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.

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.

I Say Now, However, As I Have All The While Said, That On The Territorial Question - That Is, The Question Of Extending Slavery Under The National Auspices, - I Am Inflexible. I Am For No Compromise Which Assists Or Permits The Extension Of The Institution On Soil Owned By The Nation.

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

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

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

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 Friend Is One Who Has The Same Enemies As You Have.

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

If We Know Where We Are And Something About How We Got There, We Might See Where We Are Trending - And If The Outcomes Which Lie Naturally In Our Course Are Unacceptable, To Make Timely Change.

Capital Has Its Proper Place And Is Entitled To Every Protection. The Wages Of Men Should Be Recognized In The Structure Of And In The Social Order As More Important Than The Wages Of Money [interest].

If By The Mere Force Of Numbers A Majority Should Deprive A Minority Of Any Clearly Written Constitutional Right, It Might, In A Moral Point Of View, Justify Revolution.

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

Constitution Of The United States

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

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

The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice

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

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

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.

The Land, The Earth God Gave To Man For His Home ... Should Never Be The Possession Of Any Man, Corporation, (or) Society ... Any More Than The Air Or Water.

If You Have Never Failed You Have Never Lived.

Short Inspirational Life

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

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

Getting Back Together

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

If We Exchange One Dollar, We Both Have One Dollar Each. But If We Exchange One Good Thought, We Both Have Two Good Thoughts

We Have Been The Recipients Of The Choicest Bounties Of Heaven; We Have Been Preserved These Many Years In Peace And Prosperity; We Have Grown In Numbers, Wealth, And Power As No Other Nation Has Ever Grown.

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.

And Whereas This House Desires To Obtain A Full Knowledge Of All The Facts Which Go To Establish Whether The Particular Spot Of Soil Which The Blood Of Our Citizens Was So Shed Was, Or Was Not, Our Own Soil.

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.

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

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.

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

The Surest Way To Reveal One's Character Is Not Through Adversity But By Giving Them Power.

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

The Shepherd Drives The Wolf From The Sheep's For Which The Sheep Thanks The Shepherd As His Liberator, While The Wolf Denounces Him For The Same Act As The Destroyer Of Liberty. Plainly, The Sheep And The Wolf Are Not Agreed Upon A Definition Of Liberty.

Two Of My Favorite Things Are Sitting On My Front Porch Smoking A Pipe Of Sweet Hemp, And Playing My Hohner Harmonica.

Let Us Do Nothing Through Passion And Ill Temper.

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.

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 Am Not A Very Sentimental Man; And The Best Sentiment I Can Think Of Is, That If You Collect The Signatures Of All Persons Who Are No Less Distinguished Than I, You Will Have A Very Undistinguishing Mass Of Names.

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

We Shall Not Fail - If We Stand Firm, We Shall Not Fail. Wise Counsels May Accelerate, Or Mistakes Delay It, But, Sooner Or Later, The Victory Is Sure To Come.

Nothing Is More Damaging To You Than To Do Something That You Believe Is Wrong.

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.

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.

No Man Ever Got Lost On A Straight Road.

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.

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

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.

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

I Cannot 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 Say Men Ought To Be Hung For The Way They Are Executing The Law; I Say The Way It Is Being Executed Is Quite As Good As Any Of Its Antecedents. It Is Being Executed In The Precise Way Which Was Intended From The First, Else Why Does No Nebraska Man Express Astonishment Or Condemnation? Poor Reeder Is The Only Public Man Who Has Been Silly Enough To Believe That Anything Like Fairness Was Ever Intended, And He Has Been Bravely Undeceived.

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

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.

Trending Author

Robert McNamara

Eduardo Galeano

Category