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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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That Our Government Should

Abraham Lincoln

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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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

Upon This Subject, The Habits Of Our Whole Species Fall Into Three Great Classes--useful Labour, Useless Labour And Idleness. Of These The First Only Is Meritorious; And To It All The Products Of Labour Rightfully Belong; But The Two Latter, While They Exist, Are Heavy Pensioners Upon The First, Robbing It Of A Large Portion Of It's Just Rights. The Only Remedy For This Is To, As Far As Possible, Drive Useless Labour And Idleness Out Of Existence.

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

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

To Secure To Each Laborer The Whole Product Of His Labor, Or As Nearly As Possible, Is A Worthy Object Of Any Good Government.

We Better Know There Is A Fire Whence We See Much Smoke Rising Than We Could Know It By One Or Two Witnesses Swearing To It. The Witnesses May Commit Perjury, But The Smoke Cannot.

Ballots Are The Rightful And Peaceful Successors To Bullets.

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.

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.

I Think I Stand Where That Man Stands.

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.

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

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

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

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

Nowhere In The World Is Presented A Government Of So Much Liberty And Equality. To The Humblest And Poorest Amongst Us Are Held Out The Highest Privileges And Positions. The Present Moment Finds Me At The White House, Yet There Is As Good A Chance For Your Children As There Was For My Father's.

You Cannot Fail Unless You Quit.

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

Half Finished Work Generally Proves To Be Labor Lost.

Anxiety Beclouds The Future.

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

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

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.

God Is The Silent Partner In All Great Enterprises.

I Do Not Think I Could Myself, Be Brought To Support A Man For Office, Whom I Knew To Be An Open Enemy Of, And Scoffer At, Religion.

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

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.

It's Bad. It's Damned Bad.

I Desire To See The Time When Education, And By Its Means, Morality, Sobriety, Enterprise And Industry Shall Become Much More General Than At Present.

A Noble Spirit Embiggens The Smallest Man.

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

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 Know That The Lord Is Always On The Side Of The Right. But It Is My Constant Anxiety And Prayer That I And This Nation Should Be On The Lord's Side.

With High Hope For The Future, No Prediction Is Ventured.

Hope For The Future

I Do Not Doubt That Our Country Will Finally Come Through Safe And Undivided. But Do Not Misunderstand Me... I Do Not Rely On The Patriotism Of Our People... The Bravery And Devotion Of The Boys In Blue... (or) The Loyalty And Skill Of Our Generals... But The God Of Our Fathers, Who Raised Up This Country To Be The Refuge And Asylum Of The Oppressed And Downtrodden Of All Nations, Will Not Let It Perish Now. I May Not Live To See It... I Do Not Expect To See It, But God Will Bring Us Through Safe.

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

There Is Really No Crisis Except An Artificial One...if The Great American People Will Only Keep Their Temper, On Both Sides Of The Line, The Trouble Will Come To An End.

Why Should There Not Be A Patient Confidence In The Ultimate Justice Of The People? Is There Any Better Or Equal Hope In The World?

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

The Us Patent System Adds The Fuel Of Interest To The Fire Of Genius In The Discovery And Production Of New And Useful Things

I Am Nothing, Truth Is Everything.

Every Man Is Proud Of What He Does Well; And No Man Is Proud Of What He Does Not Do Well. With The Former, His Heart Is In His Work; And He Will Do Twice As Much Of It With Less Fatigue. The Latter Performs A Little Imperfectly, Looks At It In Disgust, Turns From It, And Imagines Himself Exceedingly Tired. The Little He Has Done, Comes To Nothing, For Want Of Finishing.

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."

Too Big To Cry Too Young To Laugh.

If I Could Save The Union Without Freeing Any Slave, I Would Do It; And If I Could Save It By Freeing All The Slaves, I Would Do It; And If I Could Do It By Freeing Some And Leaving Others Alone, I Would Do That. I Have Here Stated My Purpose According To My Official Duty, And I Intend No Modification Of My Oft-expressed Personal Wish That All Men, Everywhere, Could Be Free.

Lincoln Called Laughter "the Joyous, Beautiful, Universal Evergreen Of Life."

The World Is Agreed That Labor Is The Source From Which Human Wants Are Mainly Supplied. There Is No Dispute Upon This Point.

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

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. That Every Man May Receive At Least A Moderate Education...appears To Be An Object Of Vital Importance...

He Who Sees Cruelty And Does Nothing About It Is Himself Cruel.

Beware Of Rashness, But With Energy And Sleepless Vigilance Go Forward And Give Us Victories.

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

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.

We Hoped For A Happy Termination Of This Terrible War Long Before This; But God Knows Best, And Has Ruled Otherwise. We Shall Yet Acknowledge His Wisdom And Our Own Error Therein.

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

My Policy Is To Have No Policy.

It Has Been Said Of The World's History Hitherto That Might Makes Right. It Is For Us And For Our Time To Reverse The Maxim, And To Say That Right Makes Might.

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

My Earlier Views Of The Unsoundness Of The Christian Scheme Of Salvation And The Human Origin Of The Scriptures Have Become Clearer And Stronger With Advancing Years, And I See No Reason For Thinking I Shall Ever Change Them.

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

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

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

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.

As I Would Not Be A Slave, So I Would Not Be A Master. This Expresses My Idea Of Democracy.

As Long As The Almighty Permitted Intelligent Men, Created In His Image And Likeness, To Fight In Public And Kill Each Other While The World Looks On Approvingly, It's Not For Me To Deprive The Chickens Of The Same Privilege.

Every Person Is Responsible For His Own Looks After 40.

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

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

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?

Capital Has Its Rights, Which Are As Worthy Of Protection As Any Other Right.

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

No Man Has A Good Enough Memory To Be A Successful Liar.

These Capitalists Generally Act Harmoniously And In Concert, To Fleece The People.

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

It's Not Me Who Can't Keep A Secret. It's The People I Tell That Can't.

Great Men Are Ordinary Men With Extra Ordinary Determination.

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 Man Does Not Live Who Is More Devoted To Peace Than I Am. None Who Would Do More To Preserve It.

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

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.

If A Man Will Stand Up And Assert, And Repeat And Re-assert, That Two And Two Do Not Make Four, I Know Nothing In The Power Of Argument That Can Stop Him.

Most People Are As Happy As They Want To Be.

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

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

With This Honor Devolves Upon You Also A Corresponding Responsibility. As The Country Herein Trusts You, So Under God It Will Sustain You.

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.

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

Honest Statesmanship Is The Wise Employment Of Individual Meanness For The Public Good.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Honor Is Better Than Honors.

A Man Is About As Happy As He Makes Up His Mind To Be.

As Our Case Is New, So We Must Think Anew, And Act Anew.

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

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

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.

When I Lay Down The Reins Of This Administration, I Want To Have One Friend Left. And That Friend Is Myself.

We Must Remember That The People Of All The States Are Entitled To All The Privileges And Immunities Of The Citizen Of The Several States. We Should Bear This In Mind, And Act In Such A Way As To Say Nothing Insulting Or Irritating. I Would Inculcate This Idea, So That We May Not, Like Pharisees, Set Ourselves Up To Be Better Than Other People.

But I Must Add That The U.s. Government Must Not, As By This Order, Undertake To Run The Churches. When An Individual, In A Church Or Out Of It, Becomes Dangerous To The Public Interest, He Must Be Checked; But Let The Churches, As Such Take Care Of Themselves. It Will Not Do For The U.s. To Appoint Trustees, Supervisors, Or Other Agents For The Churches.

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.

The Unpleasant Events You Are Passing From Will Not Have Been Profitless To You.

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?

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.

Towering Genius Disdains A Beaten Path. It Seeks Regions Hitherto Unexplored.

Relying, As I Do, Upon The Almighty Power, And Encouraged As I Am By These Resolutions Which You Have Just Read, With The Support Which I Receive From Christian Men, I Shall Not Hesitate To Use All The Means At My Control To Secure The Termination Of This Rebellion, And Will Hope For Success.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Achievement Has No Color

Why Don't You Laugh? If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die, And You Need This Medicine As Much As I Do.

When I Have A Particular Case In Hand, I Have That Motive And Feel An Interest In The Case, Feel An Interest In Ferreting Out The Questions To The Bottom, Love To Dig Up The Question By The Roots And Hold It Up And Dry It Before The Fires Of The Mind.

Now I Confess Myself As Belonging To That Class In The Country Who Contemplate Slavery As A Moral, Social And Political Evil.

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

I Affect No Contempt For The High Eminence He [senator Stephen Douglas] Has Reached. So Reached, That The Oppressed Of My Species,might Have Shared With Me In The Elevation, I Would Rather Stand On That Eminence, Than Wear The Richest Crown That Ever Pressed A Monarch's Brow.

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

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

The Strongest Bond Of Human Sympathy Outside The Family Relation Should Be One Uniting Working People Of All Nations And Tongues And Kindreds.

There May Sometimes Be Ungenerous Attempts To Keep A Young Man Down; And They Will Succeed Too, If He Allows His Mind To Be Diverted From Its True Channel To Brood Over The Attempted Injury. Cast About, And See If This Feeling Has Not Injured Every Person You Have Ever Known To Fall Into It.

Extemporaneous Speaking Should Be Practised And Cultivated. It Is The Lawyer's Avenue To The Public.

Public Speaking

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.

Your Good Mother Tells Me You Are Feeling Very Badly In Your New Situation. Allow Me To Assure You It Is A Perfect Certainty That You Will, Very Soon, Feel Better - Quite Happy - If You Only Stick To The Resolution You Have Taken To Procure A Military Education.... On The Contrary, If You Falter, And Give Up, You Will Lose The Power Of Keeping Any Resolution, And Will Regret It All Your Life.

I Think To Lose Kentucky Is Nearly The Same As To Lose The Whole Game.

Let Us At All Times Remember That All American Citizens Are Brothers Of A Common Country, And Should Dwell Together In Bonds Of Fraternal Feeling.

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?

Do I Not Damage My Enemies After I Make Them My Close Friends?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I Do But Quote From One Of Those Speeches When I Declare That "i Have No Purpose, Directly Or Indirectly, To Interfere With The Institution Of Slavery In The States Where It Exists. I Believe I Have No Lawful Right To Do So, And I Have No Inclination To Do So."

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

Such Will Be A Great Lesson Of Peace: Teaching Men That What They Cannot Take By An Election, Neither Can They Take It By War.

Now, I Confess Myself As Belonging To That Class In The Country Who Contemplate Slavery As A Moral, Social And Political Evil, Having Due Regard For Its Actual Existence Amongst Us And The Difficulties Of Getting Rid Of It In Any Satisfactory Way, And To All The Constitutional Obligations Which Have Been Thrown About It; But, Nevertheless, Desire A Policy That Looks To The Prevention Of It As A Wrong, And Looks Hopefully To The Time When As A Wrong It May Come To An End.

I Do Not Wish To Be Misunderstood Upon This Subject Of Slavery In This Country. I Suppose It May Long Exist, And Perhaps The Best Way For It To Come To An End Peaceably Is For It To Exist For A Length Of Time. But I Say That The Spread And Strengthening And Perpetuation Of It Is An Entirely Different Proposition. There We Should In Every Way Resist It As A Wrong, Treating It As A Wrong, With The Fixed Idea That It Must And Will Come To An End.

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

I Believe The Bible Is The Best Gift God Has Ever Given To Man. All The Good From The Savior Of The World Is Communicated To Us Through This Book.

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

Weakness Is What Keeps Driving Us To God, By The Overwhelming Conviction That There Just Isn't Anywhere Else To Go.

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

Single Relationship

I Belive That People Should Fight For What They Believe And Only What They Believe.

I Go For All Sharing The Privileges Of The Government Who Assist In Bearing Its Burdens. Consequently I Go For Admitting All Whites To The Right Of Suffrage Who Pay Taxes Or Bear Arms, By No Means Excluding Females.

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

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

A Man Watches His Pear-tree Day After Day, Impatient For The Ripening Of The Fruit. Let Him Attempt To Force The Process, And He May Spoil Both Fruit And Tree. But Let Him Patiently Wait, And The Ripe Pear At Length Falls Into His Lap.

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

What I Want Is To Get Done What The People Desire To Have Done, And The Question For Me Is How To Find That Out Exactly.

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

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.

Public Sentiment Is Everything. With Public Sentiment, Nothing Can Fail. Without It, Nothing Can Succeed.

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.

A Universal Feeling, Whether Well Or Ill Founded, Cannot Be Safely Disregarded.

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

To Say A Sheep Has 5 Legs Doesn't Make It So.

The Privilege Of Creating And Issuing Money Is Not Only The Supreme Prerogative Of Government, But It Is The Government's Greatest Creative Opportunity.

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.

You Have Confidence In Yourself, Which Is Valuable, If Not An Indispensable Quality.

What Are You Gonna Do For A Face When The Baboon Wants His Ass Back?

A Lawyer's Time And Advice Are His(her) Stock In Trade.

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

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

I Am Much Indebted To The Good Christian People Of The Country For Their Constant Prayers And Consolations; And To No One Of Them, More Than To Yourself.

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

A Statesman Is He Who Thinks In The Future Generations, And A Politician Is He Who Thinks In The Upcoming Elections.

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.

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

If You Intend To Go To Work There Is No Better Place Than Right Where You Are; If You Do Not Intend To Go To Work, You Can Not Get Along Anywhere.

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.

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.

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

These Capitalists Generally Act Harmoniously And In Concert To Fleece The People, And Now That They Have Got Into A Quarrel With Themselves, We Are Called Upon To Appropriate The People's Money To Settle The Quarrel.

The Eyes Of That Species Of Extinct Giant, Whose Bones Fill The Mounds Of America, Have Gazed On Niagara As Our Eyes Do Now.

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.

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

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

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

I Do Not Deny The Possibility That The People May Err In An Election; But If They Do, The True [cure] Is In The Next Election, And Not In The Treachery Of The Person Elected.

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

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.

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

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.

Tangible Language, Which Often Tells More Falsehoods Than Truths.

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

The Way For A Young Man To Rise Is To Improve Himself In Every Way He Can, Never Suspecting That Anybody Wishes To Hinder Him.

None Seemed To Think The Injury Arose From The Use Of A Bad Thing But From The Abuse Of A Very Good Thing

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

That We We Here Highly Resolve That These Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain - That This Nation, Under God, Shall Have A New Birth Of Freedom - And That Government Of The People, By The People, For The People, Shall Not Perish From The Earth.

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Frederick Law Olmsted

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