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...let Us Discard All This Quibbling About This Man And The Other Man-this Race And That Race And The Other Race Being Inferior, And Therefore They Must Be Placed In And Inferior Position...let Us Discard All These Things, And Unite As One People Throughout This Land, Until We Shall Once More Stand Up Declaring That All Men Are Created Equal.

-Abraham Lincoln

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...let Us Discard All

Abraham Lincoln

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...let Us Discard All This Quibbling About This Man And The Other Man-this Race And That Race And The Other Race Being Inferior, And Therefore They Must Be Placed In And Inferior Position...let Us Discard All These Things, And Unite As One People Throughout This Land, Until We Shall Once More Stand Up Declaring That All Men Are Created Equal.

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

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

Singular Indeed The People Should Be Writhing Under Oppression And Injury, And Yet Not One Among Them To Be Found, To Raise The Voice Of Complaint.

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

Commitment Is What Transforms A Promise Into A Reality... Commitment Is The Stuff Character Is Made Of; The Power To Change The Face Of Things. It Is The Daily Triumph Of Integrity Over Skepticism.

Some Day I Shall Be President.

I Desire So To Conduct The Affairs Of This Administration That If At The End... I Have Lost Every Other Friend On Earth, I Shall At Least Have One Friend Left, And That Friend Shall Be Down Inside Of Me.

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.

In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party.

Behind The Cloud The Sun Is Still Shining.

My Dear Mcclellan, If You Don't Want To Use The Army I Should Like To Borrow It For A While. Yours Respectfully.

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.

[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.

I Failed, I Failed, And That Is About All That Can Be Said About It.

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

Tell The Truth And You Won't Have So Much To Remember

Telling The Truth

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

Familiarize Yourselves With The Chains Of Bondage And You Prepare Your Own Limbs To Wear Them. Accustomed To Trample On The Rights Of Others, You Have Lost The Genius Of Your Own Independence And Become The Fit Subjects Of The First Cunning Tyrant Who Rises Among You.

Of Our Political Revolution Of '76, We All Are Justly Proud. It Has Given Us A Degree Of Political Freedom, Far Exceeding That Of Any Other Nation Of The Earth. In It The World Has Found A Solution Of The Long Mooted Problem, As To The Capability Of Man To Govern Himself. In It Was The Germ Which Has Vegetated, And Still Is To Grow And Expand Into The Universal Liberty Of Mankind.

Political Revolution

I Have An Irrepressible Desire To Live Till I Can Be Assured That The World Is A Little Better For My Having Lived In It.

Famous Inspirational

Seriously, I Do Not Think I Am Fit For The Presidency.

I Never Encourage Deceit, And Falsehood, Especially If You Have Got A Bad Memory, Is The Worst Enemy A Fellow Can Have. The Fact Is Truth Is Your Truest Friend, No Matter What The Circumstances Are.

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

I Do Not Understand That Because I Do Not Want A Negro Woman For A Slave I Must Necessarily Want Her For A Wife. My Understanding Is That I Can Just Let Her Alone.

If You Wish To Win A Man Over To Your Ideas, First Make Him Your Friend.

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

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

A Noble Spirit Embiggens The Smallest Man.

There Is More Involved In This Contest Than Is Realized By Every One. There Is Involved In This Struggle The Question Whether Your Children And My Children Shall Enjoy The Privileges We Have Enjoyed.

I Say 'try'; If We Never Try, We Shall Never Succeed.

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

I Have No Wealthy Or Popular Relations To Recommend Me.

The Constitution Is Not A Suicide Pact.

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.

I Do, Therefore, Invite My Fellow Citizens . . . To Set Apart And Observe The Last Thursday Of November Next, As A Day Of Thanksgiving And Praise To Our Beneficent Father Who Dwelleth In The Heavens.

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.

I Shall Adopt New Views As Fast As They Shall Appear To Be True Views.

Bring Me Longstreet's Head On A Platter And The War Will Be Over

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?

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.

Neither Party Expected For The War, The Magnitude, Or The Duration, Which It Has Already Attained. Neither Anticipated That The Cause Of The Conflict Might Cease With, Or Even Before, The Conflict Itself Should Cease.

Labor Is Superior To Capital And Precedes Capital. Without Labor, There Is No Capital.

I Am For . . . Each Individual Doing Just As He Chooses In All Matters Which Concern Nobody Else.

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

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

It's Time For Me To Go. But I Would Rather Stay.

Let Every American, Every Lover Of Liberty, Every Well Wisher To His Posterity, Swear By The Blood Of The Revolution, Never To Violate In The Least Particular, The Laws Of The Country; And Never To Tolerate Their Violation By Others.

The Will Of God Prevails. In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be, Wrong. God Cannot Be For And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time. In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party - And Yet The Human Instrumentalities, Working Just As They Do, Are Of The Best Adaptation To Effect His Purpose.

Men Are Not Flattered By Being Shown That There Has Been A Difference Of Purpose Between The Almighty And Them.

This Is Essentially A People's Contest... Whose Leading Object Is To Elevate The Condition Of Men - To Lift Artificial Weights From All Shoulders - To Clear The Paths Of Laudable Pursuit For All - To Afford All, An Unfettered Start And A Fair Chance, In The Race Of Life.

Gratefully Accepting The Proffered Honor, [to Inscribe A New Legal Work To Him] I Give The Leave, Begging Only That The Inscription May Be In Modest Terms, Not Representing Me As A Man Of Great Learning, Or A Very Extraordinary One In Any Respect.

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

Single Relationship

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.

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

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

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

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

Anybody Will Do For You, But Not For Me.

Every Man Has A Right To Be Equal With Every Other Man.

People Are Just As Happy As They Choose To Be.

Nations Like Individuals Are Subjected To Punishments And Chastisements In This World.

Congressmen Who Willfully Take Action During Wartime That Damages Morale And Undermine The Military Are Saboteurs And Should Be Arrested, Exiled, Or Hung

We Must Not Promise What We Ought Not, Lest We Be Called On To Perform What We Cannot.

Keeping Promises

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

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.

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 Walk Slowly, But Never Backwards.

As Labor Is The Common Burden Of Our Race, So The Effort Of Some To Shift Their Share Of The Burden Onto The Shoulders Of Others Is The Great Durable Curse Of The Race.

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

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

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

Woe Unto The World Because Of Offenses; For It Must Needs Be That Offenses Come, But Woe To That Man By Whom The Offense Cometh.

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

We Must Believe That He Permits It [this War] For Some Wise Purpose Of His Own, Mysterious And Unknown To Us; And Though With Ourlimited Understandings We May Not Be Able To Comprehend It, Yet We Cannot But Believe, That He Who Made The World Still Governs It.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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!

There Are No Bad Pictures; That's Just How Your Face Looks Sometimes.

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

The Evacuation Of Petersburg And Richmond, And The Surrender Of The Principal Insurgent Army, Give Hope Of A Righteous And Speedy Peace Whose Joyous Expression Can Not Be Restrained. In The Midst Of This, However, He, From Whom All Blessings Flow, Must Not Be Forgotten. A Call For A National Thanksgiving Is Being Prepared, And Will Be Duly Promulgated.

If I Have One Vice And I Can Call It Nothing Else It Is Not Able To Say 'no'.

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

I Have Seen Your Despatch Expressing Your Unwillingness To Break Your Hold Where You Are. Neither Am I Willing. Hold On With A Bull-dog Gripe, And Chew & Choke, As Much As Possible.

The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice

Rules Of Living Don't Worry, Eat Three Square Meals A Day,say Your Prayers, Be Courteous To Your Creditors, Keep Your Digestion Good,steer Clear Of Biliousness,exercise, Go Slow And Go Easy. May Be There Are Other Things That Your Special Case Requires To Make You Happy, But My Friend, These, I Reckon, Will Give You A Good Life.

No Man Ever Got Lost On A Straight Road.

Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.

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.

The Person Who Is Incapable Of Making A Mistake, Is Incapable Of Anything.

Making Mistakes

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.

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.

The Slave-breeders And Slave-traders, Are A Small, Odious And Detested Class, Among You; And Yet In Politics, They Dictate The Course Of All Of You, And Are As Completely Your Masters, As You Are The Master Of Your Own Negroes.

Anxiety Beclouds The Future.

A Tendancy To Melancholy...let It Be Observed, Is A Misfortune, Not A Fault.

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

I Have Been Driven Many Times Upon My Knees By The Overwhelming Conviction That I Had No Where Else To Go. My Own Wisdom And That Of All About Me Seemed Insufficient For That Day.

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.

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.

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

I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.

In The Early Days Of The World, The Almighty Said To The First Of Our Race "in The Sweat Of Thy Face Shalt Thou Eat Bread"; And Since Then, If We Except The Light And The Air Of Heaven, No Good Thing Has Been, Or Can Be Enjoyed By Us, Without Having First Cost Labour.

At The Beginning Of The War, And For Some Time, The Use Of Colored Troops Was Not Contemplated; And How The Change Of Purpose Was Wrought, I Will Not Now Take Time To Explain. Upon A Clear Conviction Of Duty I Resolved To Turn That Element Of Strength To Account; And I Am Responsible For It To The American People, To The Christian World, To History, And On My Final Account To God.

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

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

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.

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

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

We Cannot But Believe That He Who Made The World Still Governs It.

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.

Our Reliance Is In The Love Of Liberty Which God Has Planted In Our Bosoms.

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.

Women Are The Only People I Am Afraid Of Who I Never Thought Would Hurt Me

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

When I Got Him Out He Was Near Froze Solid And Shivering. He Was Shaking So Hard That I Wasted Half A Glass Of Whiskey Trying To Aim It For His Mouth. Must Have Got Enough Of It Into Him, Though, Since It Did Seem To Bring Him Back To Life.

Do You Think We Choose The Times Into Which We Are Born? Or Do We Fit The Times We Are Born Into?

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

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.

You Can Not Fail In Any Laudable Object, Unless You Allow Your Mind To Be Improperly Directed.

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

I Am Struggling To Maintain The Government, Not To Overthrow It. I Am Struggling Especially To Prevent Others From Overthrowing It.

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

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 Cannot Imagine Anyone Looking At The Sky And Denying God.

Any Society That Takes Away From Those Most Capable And Gives To The Least Will Perish.

I Never Knew A Man Who Wished To Be Himself A Slave. Consider If You Know Any Good Thing, That No Man Desires For Himself.

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

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.

You Cannot Help The Poor By Destroying The Rich. You Cannot Lift The Wage Earner By Pulling Down The Wage Payer.

Libertarian Party

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.

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

Elections Belong To The People. It's Their Decision.

Democracies Have

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

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 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 Nothing True Anywhere, The True Is Nowhere To Be Seen; If You Say You See The True, This Seeing Is Not The True One.

When The Conduct Of Men Is Designed To Be Influenced, Persuasion, Kind, Unassuming Persuasion, Should Ever Be Adopted. It Is An Old And A True Maxim, That 'a Drop Of Honey Catches More Flies Than A Gallon Of Gall.'

As A General Rule Never Take Your Whole Fee In Advance, Nor Any More Than A Small Retainer. When Fully Paid Beforehand, You Are More Than A Common Mortal If You Can Feel The Same Interest In The Case, As If Something Was Still In Prospect For You, As Well As For Your Client.

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

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

What Constitutes The Bulwark Of Our Own Liberty And Independence? It Is Not Our Frowning Battlements, Our Bristling Sea Coasts, Our Army And Our Navy... Our Reliance Is In The Love Of Liberty Which God Has Planted In Us. Our Defense Is In The Spirit Which Prizes Liberty As The Heritage Of All Men, In All Lands Everywhere. Destroy This Spirit And You Have Planted The Seeds Of Despotism At Your Own Doors... You Have Lost The Genius Of Your Own Independence And Become The Fit Subjects Of The First Cunning Tyrant Who Rises Among You.

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

I'm A Slow Walker, But I Never Walk Back.

The Greatest Fine Art Of The Future Will Be The Making Of A Comfortable Living From A Small Piece Of Land.

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

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

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.

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.

A Nation May Be Said To Consist Of Its Territory, Its People, And Its Laws. The Territory Is The Only Part Which Is Of Certain Durability.

The 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".

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

You Cannot Build Character And Courage By Taking Away People's Initiative And Independence. You Cannot Help People Permanently By Doing For Them What They Could And Should Do For Themselves.

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)

Lonely Men Seek Companionship. Lonely Women Sit At Home And Wait. They Never Meet.

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.

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

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.

Labor Is The True Standard Of Value.

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

Towering Genius...thirsts And Burns For Distinction; And, If Possible, It Will Have It, Whether At The Expense Of Emancipating Slaves Or Enslaving Freeman.

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!

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

Short And Sweet

President Lincoln Was Once Criticized For His Attitude Toward His Enemies. "why Do You Try To Make Friends Of Them?" Asked An Associate. "you Should Try To Destroy Them." "am I Not Destroying My Enemies," Lincoln Gently Replied, "when I Make Them My Friends?"

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.

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

With Firmness In The Right, As God Gives Us To See The Right.

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

I Hold, That In Contemplation Of Universal Law, And Of The Constitution, The Union Of These States Is Perpetual.

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

If I Gave Mcclellan All The Men He Asked For, They Could Not Find Room To Lie Down; They'd Have To Sleep Standing Up.

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.

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

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

The 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.

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

Prohibition... Goes Beyond The Bounds Of Reason In That It Attempts To Control A Man's Appetite By Legislation And Makes A Crime Out Of Things That Are Not Crimes... A Prohibition Law Strikes A Blow At The Very Principles Upon Which Our Government Was Founded.

It Is The Man Who Does Not Want To Express An Opinion Whose Opinion I Want.

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

Inspirational Life

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

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

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

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

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

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

May The Almighty Grant That The Cause Of Truth, Justice, And Humanity, Shall In No Wise Suffer At My Hands.

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.

It's Bad. It's Damned Bad.

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

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

You Cannot Bring About Prosperity By Discouraging Thrift. You Cannot Establish Sound Security On Borrowed Money. You Cannot Keep Out Of Trouble By Spending More Than You Earn.

I Wish To See, In Process Of Disappearing, That Only Thing Which Ever Could Bring This Nation To Civil War.

I Am Busily Engaged In Study Of The Bible.

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

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

The Trouble With Too Many People Is They Believe The Realm Of Truth Always Lies Within Their Vision.

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

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