Background Image

...

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

-Abraham Lincoln

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

No Duty Is More

Abraham Lincoln

...

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

Views: 11

Topic

More From Abraham Lincoln

I Can Hardly Believe That The South And North Can Live In Peace, Unless We Can Get Rid Of The Negroes ... I Believe That It Would Be Better To Export Them All To Some Fertile Country With A Good Climate, Which They Could Have To Themselves.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.

Writing, The Art Of Communicating Thoughts To The Mind Through The Eye, Is The Great Invention Of The World.

Care For Him Who Shall Have Borne The Battle

Widows And Orphans

Towering Genius Distains A Beaten Path.

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

We Cannot Escape History.

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

Constitution Of The United States

Our Common Country Is In Great Peril, Demanding The Loftiest Views, And Boldest Action To Bring It Speedy Relief. Once Relieved, Its Form Of Government Is Saved To The World; Its Beloved History, And Cherished Memories, Are Vindicated; And Its Happy Future Fully Assured, And Rendered Inconceivably Grand.

How Many Times Have I Laughed At You Telling Me Plainly That I Was Too Lazy To Be Anything But A Lawyer.

Discourage Litigation. Persuade Your Neighbors To Compromise Whenever You Can. As A Peacemaker The Lawyer Has Superior Opportunity Of Being A Good Man. There Will Still Be Business Enough.

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

What Has Ever Threatened Our Liberty And Prosperity Save And Except This Institution Of Slavery?

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

Human Nature Will Not Change. In Any Future Great National Trial, Compared With The Men Of This, We Shall Have As Weak And As Strong, As Silly And As Wise, As Bad And As Good. Let Us Therefore Study The Incidents In This As Philosophy To Learn Wisdom From And None Of Them As Wrongs To Be Avenged.

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.

I Would Save The Union. I Would Save It The Shortest Way Under The Constitution. The Sooner The National Authority Can Be Restored; The Nearer The Union Will Be 'the Union As It Was'.

Never Do Anything For Anyone Who Can Just As Well Do It Themself

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].

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

Every Man Is Born An Original, But Sadly, Most Men Die Copies.

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.

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.

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

Never Let Your Correspondence Fall Behind.

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

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

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

I 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.

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?

The Sense Of Obligation To Continue Is Present In All Of Us. A Duty To Strive Is The Duty Of Us All. I Felt A Call To That Duty.

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

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

I Remember My Mother's Prayers And They Have Always Followed Me. They Have Clung To Me All My Life.

It Is Not The Qualified Voters, But The Qualified Voters Who Choose To Vote, That Constitute Political Power.

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 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.

My Friends I Now Leave, Not Knowing When, Or Whether Ever, I May Return, With A Task Before Me Greater Than That Which Rested Upon Washington. Without The Assistance Of That Divine Being, Who Ever Attended Him, I Cannot Succeed. With That Assistance, I Cannot Fail.

We The People Are The Rightful Masters Of Both Congress And The Courts, Not To Overthrow The Constitution But To Overthrow The Men Who Pervert The Constitution.

Democracies Have

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

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.

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

Whatever уоu Are, Bе а Good One.

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

Few Can Be Induced To Labor Exclusively For Posterity - Posterity Has Done Nothing For Us

I Have Always Hated Slavery, I Think As Much As Any Abolitionist.

Abolition Of Slavery

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

There Are Few Things Wholly Evil Or Wholly Good. Almost Everything, Especially Of Government Policy, Is An Inseparable Compound Of The Two, So That Our Best Judgment Of The Preponderance Between Them Is Continually Demanded.

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

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

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

To Lead, You Must Touch Men's Hearts.

Submitted To The Sec. Of War. On Principle I Dislike An Oath Which Requires A Man To Swear He Has Not Done Wrong. It Rejects The Christian Principle Of Forgiveness On Terms Of Repentance. I Think It Is Enough If The Man Does No Wrong Hereafter.

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 Hold That If The Almighty Had Ever Made A Set Of Men That Should Do All The Eating And None Of The Work, He Would Have Made Them With Mouths Only And No Hands, And If He Had Ever Made Another Class That He Intended Should Do All The Work And None Of The Eating, He Would Have Made Them Without Mouths And With All Hands.

Our Eldest Boy, Bob, Has Been Away From Us Nearly A Year At School, And Will Enter Harvard University This Month. He Promises Verywell, Considering We Never Controlled Him Much.

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

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.

Work, Work, Work, Is The Main Thing.

You Cannot Help Small Men By Tearing Down Big Men.

Never Change Horses In Midstream.

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

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.

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

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.

We Must Free The Slaves Or Be Ourselves Subdued.

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

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.

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

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

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

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 No Purpose To Introduce Political And Social Equality Between The White And Black Races. There Is Physical Difference Between The Two Which, In My Judgment, Will Probably Forever Forbid Their Living Together Upon The Footing Of Perfect Equality, And Inasmuch As It Becomes A Necessity That There Must Be A Difference, I, As Well As Judge Douglas, Am In Favor Of The Race To Which I Belong Having The Superior Position.

Don't Judge A Man By The Size Of His Ego Or His Heart, But On The Epicness Of His Beard And The Beautiful Woman On His Arm

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

So You're The Little Woman Who Wrote The Book That Made This Great War!

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

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

One Generation Passeth Away And Another Generation Cometh, But The Earth Abideth Forever.

Let Every Man Remember That To Violate The Law, Is To Trample On The Blood Of His Father, And To Tear The Character Of His Own, And His Children's Liberty.

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.

His Argument Is As Thin As The Homeopathic Soup That Was Made By Oiling The Shadow Of A Pigeon That Had Been Starved To Death.

Let Not Him Who Is Houseless Pull Down The House Of Another, But Let Him Work Diligently And Build One For Himself, Thus By Example Assuring That His Own Shall Be Safe From Violence When Built.

I Am Not Bound To Win, But I Am Bound To Be True. I Am Not Bound To Succeed, But I Am Bound To Live Up To The Light I Have. I Must Stand With Anybody That Stands Right - Stand With Him While He Is Right And Part With Him When He Goes Wrong.

The Human Mind Is Impelled To Action, Or Held In Rest By Some Power, Over Which The Mind Itself Has No Control.

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

Think Of Strangers As Friends You Not Met Yet.

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.

When Someone Asked Abraham Lincoln, After He Was Elected President, What He Was Going To Do About His Enemies, He Replied, "i Am Going To Destroy Them. I Am Going To Make Them My Friends."

As A Nation We Began By Declaring That All Me Are Created Equal. We Now Practically Read It, All Men Are Created Equal Except Negroes.

But In A Larger Sense, We Cannot Dedicate, We Cannot Consecrate, We Cannot Hallow This Ground. The Brave Men, Living And Dead, Who Struggled Here, Have Consecrated It, Far Above Our Poor Power To Add Or To Detract. The World Will Little Note, Nor Long Remember What We Say Here, But It Can Never Forget What They Did Here.

The Power Confided In Me Will Be Used To Hold, Occupy And Possess The Property And Places Belonging To The Government, And To Collect The Duties And Imposts.

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

To Stand In Silence When They Should Be Protesting Makes Cowards Of Men.

Destroy Your Enemy By Making Him Your Friend.

Powerful Life Changing

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)

I Am A Moderate Walker, However I Never Stroll Back.

The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Most People Are As Happy As They Want To Be.

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

I Don't Know Who My Grandfather Was; I Am Much More Concerned To Know What His Grandson Will Be.

Everybody Likes Compliment.

I Believe It Is An Established Maxim In Morals That He Who Makes An Assertion Without Knowing Whether It Is True Or False, Is Guilty Of Falsehood; And The Accidental Truth Of The Assertion, Does Not Justify Or Excuse Him.

The Negative Principle That No Law Is Free Law, Is Not Much Known Except Among Lawyers.

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.

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

Fellow Countrymen: At This Second Appearing To Take The Oath Of The Presidential Office, There Is Less Occasion For An Extended Address Than There Was At The First...the Progress Of Our Arms, Upon Which All Else Chiefly Depends, Is As Well Known To The Public As To Myself; And It Is, I Trust, Reasonably Satisfactory And Encouraging To All. With High Hope For The Future, No Prediction In Regard To It Is Ventured.

You Think Slavery Is Right And Ought To Be Extended; While We Think It Is Wrong And Ought To Be Restricted. That I Suppose Is The Rub. It Certainly Is The Only Substantial Difference Between Us.

What Is Conservatism? Is It Not The Adherence To The Old And Tried Against The New And Untried?

Let All Americans - Let All Lovers Of Liberty Everywhere - Join In The Great And Good Work. If We Do This, We Shall Not Only Have Saved The Union; But We Shall Have So Saved It, As To Make, And To Keep It, Forever Worthy Of The Saving.

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

Whether Or Not The World Would Be Vastly Benefited By A Total Banishment From It Of All Intoxicating Drinks Seems Not Now An Open Question. Three-fourths Of Mankind Confess The Affirmative With Their Tongues, And I Believe All The Rest Acknowledge It In Their Hearts.

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

If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong.

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

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.

Labor Is The True Standard Of Value.

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.

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

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

Now What Is Judge Douglas Popular Sovereignty? It Is, As A Principle, No Other Than That, If One Man Chooses To Make A Slave Of Another Man, Neither That Other Man Nor Anybody Else Has A Right To Object.

I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.

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

The Struggle Of Today Is Not Altogether For Today - It Is For A Vast Future Also.

Property Is The Fruit Of Labor; Property Is Desirable; It Is A Positive Good.

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 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.

[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.

For It Has Been Said, All That A Man Hath Will He Give For His Life; And While All Contribute Of Their Substance The Soldier Puts His Life At Stake, And Often Yields It Up In His Country's Cause. The Highest Merit, Then Is Due To The Soldier.

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

We Believe That The Spreading Out And Perpetuity Of The Institution Of Slavery Impairs The General Welfare. We Believe - Nay, We Know, That That Is The Only Thing That Has Ever Threatened The Perpetuity Of The Union Itself.

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

What Kills A Skunk Is The Publicity It Gives Itself.

The Philosophy Of The School Room In One Generation Will Be The Philosophy Of Government In The Next.

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

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

Elections Belong To The People. It's Their Decision. If They Decide To Turn Their Back On The Fire And Burn Their Behinds, Then They Will Just Have To Sit On Their Blisters.

Democracies Have

As A Nation, We Began By Declaring That 'all Men Are Created Equal.' We Now Practically Read It 'all Men Are Created Equal, Except Negroes.' When The Know-nothings Get Control, It Will Read 'all Men Are Created Equal, Except Negroes, And Foreigners, And Catholics.' When It Comes To This I Should Prefer Emigrating To Some Country Where They Make No Pretense Of Loving Liberty – To Russia, For Instance, Where Despotism Can Be Taken Pure, And Without The Base Alloy Of Hypocrisy.

I Go For All Sharing The Privileges Of The Government Who Assist In Bearing Its Burdens.

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.

I Hold That While A Man Exists, It Is His Duty To Improve Not Only His Own Condition, But To Assist In Ameliorating Mankind.

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

As To Your Kind Wishes For Myself, Allow Me To Say I Can Not Enter The Ring On The Money Basis--first, Because, In The Main, It Iswrong; And Secondly, I Have Not, And Can Not Get, The Money. I Say, In The Main, The Use Of Money Is Wrong; But For Certain Objects, In A Political Contest, The Use Of Some, Is Both Right, And Indispensable.

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

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

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

Every Blade Of Grass Is A Study; And To Produce Two, Where There Was But One, Is Both A Profit And A Pleasure.

Surely God Would Not Have Created Such A Being As Man, With An Ability To Grasp The Infinite, To Exist Only For A Day! No, No, Man Was Made For Immortality.

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

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.

All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.

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.

The Worst Thing You Can Do For Anyone You Care About Is Anything That They Can Do On Their Own.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.

My Dream Is Of A Place And A Time Where America Will Once Again Be Seen As The Last Best Hope Of Earth.

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

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

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.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition.

Public Opinion In This Country Is Everything.

Moral Principle Is A Looser Bond Than Pecuniary Interest.

I Am A Little Uneasy About The Abolishment Of Slavery In This District Of Columbia.

Violence Begins Where Knowledge Ends.

Labor Is The Great Source From Which Nearly All, If Not All, Human Comforts And Necessities Are Drawn.

Freedom Is The Last, Best Hope Of Earth.

May Our Children And Our Children's Children To A Thousand Generations, Continue To Enjoy The Benefits Conferred Upon Us By A United Country, And Have Cause Yet To Rejoice Under Those Glorious Institutions Bequeathed Us By Washington And His Compeers.

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

Should My Administration Prove To Be A Very Wicked One...or A Very Foolish One, If You, The People, Are True To Yourselves And The Constitution, There Is Little Harm I Can Do, Thank God.

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

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.

When We Were The Political Slaves Of King George, And Wanted To Be Free, We Called The Maxim That "all Men Are Created Equal" A Self Evident Truth; But Now When We Have Grown Fat, And Have Lost All Dread Of Being Slaves Ourselves, We Have Become So Greedy To Be Masters That We Call The Same Maxim "a Self Evident Lie" The Fourth Of July Has Not Quite Dwindled Away; It Is Still A Great Day-for Burning Fire-crackers!!!

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.

We Must Ask Where We Are And Whither We Are Tending.

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

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

Important Principles May, And Must, Be Inflexible.

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.'

Trending Author

Jared Padalecki

Sarah Bernhardt

Freddie Mercury

Category