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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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Next Came The Patent

Abraham Lincoln

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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.

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Why Don't I Drink From A Straw? Because Straws Are For Suckers.

I Believe Each Individual Is Naturally Entitled To Do As He Pleases With Himself And The Fruit Of His Labor, So Far As It In No Wise Interferes With Any Other Mans Rightsthat Each Community, As A State, Has A Right To Do Exactly As It Pleases With All The Concerns Within That State That Interfere With The Right Of No Other State, And That The General Government, Upon Principle, Has No Right To Interfere With Anything Other Than That General Class Of Things That Does Concern The Whole.

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

Reduce The Supply Of Black Labor By Colonizing The Black Laborer Out Of The Country, And By Precisely So Much You Increase The Demand For And Wages Of White Labor.

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.

When Arguing With A Fool, Make Sure The Opponent Isn't Doing The Exact Same Thing.

Well, I Wish Some Of You Would Tell Me The Brand Of Whiskey That Grant Drinks. I Would Like To Send A Barrel Of It To My Other Generals.

Were It Not For My Little Jokes, I Could Not Bear The Burdens Of This Office.

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

That I Am Not A Member Of Any Christian Church, Is True; But I Have Never Denied The Truth Of The Scriptures; And I Have Never Spoken With Intentional Disrepect Of Religion In General, Or Of Any Denomination Of Christians In Particular.

It Doesn't Mater If You're A Slow Walker, So Long As You Don't Walk Backwards.

I See In The Near Future A Crisis Approaching That Unnerves Me And Causes Me To Tremble For The Safety Of My Country.

I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.

You Can Tell The Greatness Of A Man By What Makes Him Angry

Bad Promises Are Better Broken Than Kept.

I Fear Explanations Explanatory Of Things Explained.

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

I Freely Acknowledge Myself The Servant Of The People, According To The Bond Of Service - The United States Constitution; And That, As Such, I Am Responsible To Them.

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

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

A Fellow Once Came To Me To Ask For An Appointment As A Minister Abroad. Finding He Could Not Get That, He Came Down To Some More Modest Position. Finally, He Asked To Be Made A Tide-waiter. When He Saw He Could Not Get That, He Asked Me For An Old Pair Of Trousers. It Is Sometimes Well To Be Humble.

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

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.

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 Wish All Men To Be Free. I Wish The Material Prosperity Of The Already Free Which I Feel Sure The Extinction Of Slavery Would Bring.

And Then, The Negro Being Doomed, And Damned, And Forgotten, To Everlasting Bondage, Is The White Man Quite Certain That The Tyrant Demon Will Not Turn Upon Him Too?

Those Who Are Ready To Sacrifice Freedom For Security Ultimately Will Lose Both.

Leave Nothing For To-morrow Which Can Be Done To-day.

Procrastination

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

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.

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.

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

Making Mistakes

Can Treaties Be More Faithfully Enforced Between Aliens Than Laws Can Among Friends? Suppose You Go To War, You Cannot Fight Always; And When, After Much Loss On Both Sides, And No Gain On Either, You Cease Fighting, The Identical Old Questions As To Terms Of Intercourse Are Again Upon You.

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.

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

I Shall Do Less Whenever I Shall Believe What I Am Doing Hurts The Cause And I Shall Do More Whenever I Shall Believe Doing More Will Help The Cause. I Shall Try To Correct Errors When Shown To Be Errors And I Shall Adopt New Views So Fast As They Shall Appear To Be True Views.

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

Ere Long The Most Valuable Of All Arts Will Be The Art Of Deriving A Comfortable Subsistence From The Smallest Area Of Soil. No Community Where Every Member Possesses The Art Can Ever Be The Victim Of Oppression In Any Of Its Forms.

We Have All Heard Of Young America. He Is The Most Current Youth Of The Age. Some Think Him Conceited, And Arrogant; But Has He Not Reason To Entertain A Rather Extensive Opinion Of Himself? Is He Not The Inventor And Owner Of The Present, And Sole Hope Of The Future?

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

The Best Way To Get A Bad Law Repealed Is To Enforce It Strictly.

The Man Who Stands By And Says Nothing, When The Peril Of His Government Is Discussed, Can Not Be Misunderstood. If Not Hindered, He Is Sure To Help The Enemy.

I Believe That Every Individual Is Naturally Entitled To Do As He Pleases With Himself And The Fruits Of His Labor, So Far As It In No Way Interferes With Any Other Men's Rights.

The President Is The Cube Of Ice One Places In The Pot Of A Houseplant, Providing A Steady Amount Of Nourishment Over The Course Of A Hot Day. A Good Description Of The Job And Also A Fantastic Bit Of Practical Household Advice.

We Shall Meanly Lose Or Nobly Save The Last Hope Of Earth.

If You Are Going To Fight, Don't Let Them Talk You Into Negotiating. But, If You Are Going To Negotiate, Don't Let Them Talk You Into Fighting.

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

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

God Is The Silent Partner In All Great Enterprises.

It Has Long Been Recognized That The Problems With Alcohol Relate Not To The Use Of A Bad Thing, But To The Abuse Of A Good Thing.

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

I Was Born Feb. 12, 1809, In Hardin County, Kentucky. My Parents Were Both Born In Virginia, Of Undistinguished Families--second Families, Perhaps I Should Say. My Mother, Who Died In My Tenth Year, Was Of A Family Of The Name Of Hanks.... My Father ... Removed From Kentucky To ... Indiana, In My Eighth Year.... It Was A Wild Region, With Many Bears And Other Wild Animals Still In The Woods. There I Grew Up.... Of Course When I Came Of Age I Did Not Know Much. Still Somehow, I Could Read, Write, And Cipher ... But That Was All.

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

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

Progress Of Society

Whatever Spiteful Fools May Say, Each Jealous Ranting Yelper, No Woman Ever Went Astray, Without A Man To Help Her

Gold Is Good In Its Place, But Living, Brave, Patriotic Men Are Better Than Gold.

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!

One Is A Majority If He Is Right.

I Am Not Bound To Win, But I Am Bound To Be True.

In A Certain Sense, And To A Certain Extent, He [the President] Is The Representative Of The People. He Is Elected By Them, As Well As Congress Is. But Can He, In The Nature [of] Things, Know The Wants Of The People, As Well As Three Hundred Other Men, Coming From All The Various Localities Of The Nation? If So, Where Is The Propriety Of Having A Congress?

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

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.

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

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

Our Defense Is In The Preservation Of The Spirit Which Prizes Liberty As A Heritage Of All Men, In All Lands, Everywhere. Destroy This Spirit And You Have Planted The Seeds Of Despotism Around Your Own Doors.

No Country Can Sustain, In Idleness, More Than A Small Percentage Of Its Numbers. The Great Majority Must Labor At Something Productive.

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

Nothing In This World Is Impossible To A Willing Heart.

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

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

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

When I Left Springfield [to Become President] I Asked The People To Pray For Me. I Was Not A Christian. When I Buried My Son, The Severest Trial Of My Life, I Was Not A Christian. But When I Went To Gettysburg And Saw The Graves Of Thousands Of Our Soldiers, I Then And There Consecrated Myself To Christ.

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

Intelligence, Patriotism, Christianity, And A Firm Reliance On Him, Who Has Never Yet Forsaken This Favored Land, Are Still Competent To Adjust, In The Best Way, All Our Present Difficulty.

If Elected I Shall Be Thankful; If Not, It Will Be All The Same.

We Have, As All Will Agree, A Free Government, Where Every Man Has A Right To Be Equal With Every Other Man. In This Great Struggle, This Form Of Government And Every Form Of Human Right Is Endangered If Our Enemies Succeed.

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.

Cling To Liberty And Right; Battle Fro Them; Leed For Them; Die For Them, If Need Be; And Have Confidence In God.

Among Free Men There Can Be No Successful Appeal From The Ballot To The Bullet.

Whatever уоu Are, Bе а Good 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.

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

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

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

Any People Anywhere, Being Inclined And Having The Power, Have The Right To Rise Up, And Shake Off The Existing Government, And Form A New One That Suits Them Better. This Is A Most Valuable - A Most Sacred Right - A Right, Which We Hope And Believe, Is To Liberate The World.

Towering Genius Distains A Beaten Path.

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

We Will Make Converts Day By Day; We Will Grow Strong By The Violence And Injustice Of Our Adversaries. And, Unless Truth Be A Mockery And Justice A Hollow Lie, We Will Be In The Majority After A While.

If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong.

No Man Ever Got Lost On A Straight Road.

I Am Not An Accomplished Lawyer.

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.

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.

Allow The President To Invade A Neighboring Nation, Whenever He Shall Deem It Necessary To Repel An Invasion, And You Allow Him To Do So Whenever He May Choose To Say He Deems It Necessary For Such A Purpose - And You Allow Him To Make War At Pleasure.

Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.

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.

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.

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

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.

Both Read The Same Bible, And Pray To The Same God; And Each Invokes His Aid Against The Other. It May Seem Strange That Any Men Should Dare To Ask A Just God's Assistance In Wringing Their Bread From The Sweat Of Other Men's Faces; But Let Us Judge Not That We Be Not Judged. The Prayers Of Both Could Not Be Answered; That Of Neither Has Been Answered Fully.

That Everyone May Receive At Least A Moderate Education Appears To Be An Objective Of Vital Importance.

I Did Say, At Chicago, In My Speech There, That I Do Wish To See The Spread Of Slavery Arrested And To See It Placed Where The Public Mind Shall Rest In The Belief That It Is In Course Of Ultimate Extinction.

We Are Not Enemies, But Friends. We Must Not Be Enemies. Though Passion May Have Strained, It Must Not Break Our Bonds Of Affection. The Mystic Chords Of Memory Will Swell When Again Touched, As Surely They Will Be, By The Better Angels Of Our Nature.

Nothing Valuable Can Be Lost By Taking Time.

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.

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.

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

Teach Hope To All, Despair To None.

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

The World Has Never Had A Good Definition Of The Word Liberty, And The American People, Just Now, Are Much In Want Of One. We All Declare For Liberty; But In Using The Same Word We Do Not All Mean The Same Thing.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

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.

The Time Comes Upon Every Public Man When It Is Best For Him To Keep His Lips Closed.

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.

God Can Not Be For, And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time.

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

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.

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

...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.

It Is A Good Face. I Am Glad This War Is Over At Last.

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

Always Remember: Life Is For Enjoying.

Inspirational Life

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.

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

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

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

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.

If You Have Never Failed You Have Never Lived.

Short Inspirational Life

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

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

A Majority Held In Restraint By Constitutional Checks And Limitations...is The Only True Sovereign Of A Free People. Whoever Rejects It Does Of Necessity Fly To Anarchy Or To Despotism.

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

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

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

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

The Autocrat Of All The Russias Will Resign His Crown, And Proclaim His Subjects Free Republicans Sooner Than Will Our American Masters Voluntarily Give Up Their Slaves.

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

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

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

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.

We Must Settle This Question Now -- Whether In A Free Government The Minority Have The Right To Break It Up Whenever They Choose. If We Fail, It Will Go Far To Prove The Incapability Of The People To Govern Themselves.

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.

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

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.

I Do The Very Best I Know How - The Very Best I Can; And I Mean To Keep On Doing So Until The End.

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.

Human Action Can Be Modified To Some Extent, But Human Nature Can Not Be Changed

Words Of Wisdom

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

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

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

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

If Ever I Feel The Soul Within Me Elevate And Expand To Those Dimensions, Not Wholly Unworthy Of Its Almighty Architect, It Is When I Contemplate The Cause Of My Country, Deserted By All The World Beside, And I Standing Up Boldly, Alone, Hurling Defiance At Her Victorious Oppressors.

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.

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

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.

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.

Again, A Law May Be Both Constitutional And Expedient, And Yet May Be Administered In An Unjust And Unfair Way.

Work, Work, Work, Is The Main Thing.

If You Understand What You're Doing, You're Not Learning Anything.

I Was Raised To Farm Work.

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.

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

So Plain That No One, High Or Low, Ever Does Mistake It, Except In A Plainly Selfish Way; For Although Volume Upon Volume Is Written To Prove Slavery A Very Good Thing, We Never Hear Of The Man Who Wishes To Take The Good Of It, By Being A Slave Himself.

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.

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

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.

Being President Is Like The Man Who Was Tarred And Feathered And Ridden Out Of Town On A Rail... A Man In The Crowd Asked How He Liked It, And His Reply Was That If It Wasn't For The Honor Of The Thing, He Would Much Rather Walk.

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

Emancipation Proclamation

I Believe The Bible Is The Best Gift God Ever Gave To Man. All The Good From The Savior Of The World Is Communicated To Us Through That Book." On A Personal Spiritual Note, Lincoln Confessed, "i Have Been Driven Many Times To My Knees With The Overwhelming Conviction, That I Had Nowhere Else To Go.

If You Are Resolutely Determined To Make A Lawyer Of Yourself, The Thing Is More Than Half Done Already. It Is But A Small Matter Whether You Read With Anyone Or Not. I Did Not Read With Anyone. Get The Books, And Read And Study Them Till You Understand Them In Their Principal Features; And That Is The Main Thing. It Is Of No Consequence To Be In A Large Town While You Are Reading. I Read At New Salem, Which Never Had Three Hundred People Living In It. The Books, And Your Capacity For Understanding Them, Are Just The Same In All Places.

If I Care To Listen To Every Criticism, Let Alone Act On Them, Then This Shop May As Well Be Closed For All Other Businesses. I Have Learned To Do My Best, And If The End Result Is Good Then I Do Not Care For Any Criticism, But If The End Result Is Not Good, Then Even The Praise Of Ten Angels Would Not Make The Difference.

Never Change Horses In Midstream.

A Drop Of Honey Catches More Flies Than A Gallon Of Gall. So With Men. If You Would Win A Man To Your Cause, First Convince Him That You Are His Sincere Friend. Therein Is A Drop Of Honey Which Catches His Heart, Which, Say What He Will, Is The Highroad To His Reason.

Politicians Are A Set Of Men Who Have Interests Aside From The Interests Of The People And Who, To Say The Most Of Them, Are, Taken As A Mass, At Least One Long Step Removed From Honest Men

You Have More Of A Feeling Of Personal Resentment Than I Have. Perhaps, I Have Too Little Of It, But I Never Thought It Paid.

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

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.

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

Friends And Enemies

Tangible Language, Which Often Tells More Falsehoods Than Truths.

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.

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.

I Never Did Ask More, Nor Ever Was Willing To Accept Less, Than For All The States, And The People Thereof, To Take And Hold Their Places, And Their Rights, In The Union, Under The Constitution Of The United States. For This Alone Have I Felt Authorized To Struggle; And I Seek Neither More Nor Less Now.

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

I Could As Easily Bail Out The Potomac River With A Teaspoon As Attend To All The Details Of The Army.

I Was Elected A Captain Of Volunteers--a Success Which Gave Me More Pleasure Than Any I Have Had Since.

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

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

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

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

Keeping Promises

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.

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

Moral Principle Is A Looser Bond Than Pecuniary Interest.

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 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.

Every Person Is Responsible For His Own Looks After 40.

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.

There Is No America Without Labor, And To Fleece The One Is To Rob The Other.

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

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

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.

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