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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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The Autocrat Of All

Abraham Lincoln

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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.

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

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.

Never Stir Up Litigation, A Worse Man Can Scarcely Be Found Than One Who Does This, Who Can Be More Nearly A Fiend Than He Who Habitually Overhauls The Register Of Deeds In Search Of Defects In Titles, Whereon To Stir Up Strife, And Put Money In His Pocket?

Knavery And Flattery Are Blood Relations.

If You Have Never Failed You Have Never Lived.

Short Inspirational Life

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.

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

I Am Slow To Learn And Slow To Forget That Which I Have Learned. My Mind Is Like A Piece Of Steel, Very Hard To Scratch Any Thing On It And Almost Impossible After You Get It There To Rub It Out.

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.

Let Us Diligently Apply The Means, Never Doubting That A Just God, In His Own Good Time, Will Give Us The Rightful Result.

Kindness Is The Only Service That Will Stand The Storm Of Life And Not Wash Out.

The Better Angels Of Our Nature

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

Stand With Anybody That Stands Right, Stand With Him While He Is Right And Part With Him When He Goes Wrong.

Let No Feeling Of Discouragement Prey Upon You, And In The End You Are Sure To Succeed.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Our Government Rests In Public Opinion. Whoever Can Change Public Opinion, Can Change The Government, Practically Just So Much.

I Do Not Think Much Of A Man Who Is Not Wiser Today Than He Was Yesterday.

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

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

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.

Must I Shoot A Simple-minded Soldier Boy Who Deserts, While I Must Not Touch A Hair Of The Wily Agitator Who Induces Him To Desert? I Think That In Such A Cse To Silence The Agitator And Save The Boy Is Not Only Constitutional But Withal A Great Mercy.

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.

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.

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

Achievement Has No Color

I Hope To Stand Firm Enough To Not Go Backward, And Yet Not Go Forward Fast Enough To Wreck The Country's Cause.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition.

Nothing Will Divert Me From My Purpose.

It Is My Pleasure That My Children Are Free And Happy, And Unrestrained By Parental Tyranny. Love Is The Chain Whereby To Bind A Child To Its Parents.

Its Authors Meant It To Be... A Stumbling Block To Those Who In After Times Might Seek To Turn A Free People Back Into The Hateful Paths Of Despotism. They Knew The Proneness Of Prosperity To Breed Tyrants, And They Meant When Such Should Re-appear In This Fair Land And Commence Their Vocation They Should Find Left For Them At Least One Hard Nut To Crack.

The Ballot Is Stronger Than The Bullet.

Democracies Have

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Constitution Of The United States

Negroes, Like Other People, Act Upon Motives. Why Should They Do Anything For Us, If We Will Do Nothing For Them? If They Stake Their Lives For Us, They Must Be Prompted By The Strongest Motive, Even The Promise Of Freedom. And The Promise Being Made, Must Be Kept.

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.

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

If We Cannot Give Freedom To Every Creature, Let Us Do Nothing That Will Impose Slavery Upon Any Other Creature.

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.

I Am Slow To Listen To Criminations Among Friends, And Never Espouse Their Quarrels On Either Side. My Sincere Wish Is That Both Sides Will Allow Bygones To Be Bygones, And Look To The Present & Future Only.

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.

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

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

Hope For The Future

All I Ask For The Negro Is That If You Do Not Like Him, Let Him Alone. If God Gave Him But Little, That Little Let Him Enjoy.

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

We Must Free The Slaves Or Be Ourselves Subdued.

You May Burn My Body To Ashes, And Scatter Them To The Winds Of Heaven; You May Drag My Soul Down To The Regions Of Darkness And Despair To Be Tormented Forever; But You Will Never Get Me To Support A Measure Which I Believe To Be Wrong, Although By Doing So I May Accomplish That Which I Believe To Be Right.

Men Are Not Flattered By Being Shown That There Has Been A Difference Of Purpose Between The Almighty And Them. To Deny It, However, In This Case, Is To Deny That There Is A God Governing The World. It Is A Truth Which I Thought Needed To Be Told; And As Whatever Of Humilation There Is In It, Falls Most Directly On Myself, I Thought Others Might Afford For Me To Tell It.

Fellow-citizens, We Cannot Escape History. We Of This Congress And This Administration, Will Be Remembered In Spite Of Ourselves. No Personal Significance, Or Insignificance, Can Spare One Or Another Of Us. The Fiery Trial Through Which We Pass, Will Light Us Down, In Honor Or Dishonor, To The Latest Generation.

The Enthusiastic Uprising Of The People In Our Cause, Is Our Great Reliance; And We Can Not Safely Give It Any Check, Even Thoughit Overflows, And Runs In Channels Not Laid Down In Any Chart.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

I Have Got You Together To Hear What I Have Written Down. I Do Not Wish Your Advice About The Main Matterfor That I Have Determined For Myself.

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?

The Foregoing History May Not Be Precisely Accurate In Every Particular; But I Am Sure It Is Sufficiently So, For All The Uses I Shall Attempt To Make Of It, And In It, We Have Before Us, The Chief Material Enabling Us To Correctly Judge Whether The Repeal Of The Missouri Compromise Is Right Or Wrong.

You Can’t Make A Weak Man Strong By Making A Strong Man Weak

Too Big To Cry Too Young To Laugh.

It Is A Pleasure To Be Able To Quote Lines To Fit Any Occasion.

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

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

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

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

How Many Legs Does A Dog Have If You Call The Tail A Leg? Four. Calling A Tail A Leg Doesn't Make It A Leg.

No Policy That Does Not Rest Upon Some Philosophical Public Opinion Can Be Permanently Maintained.

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.

With The Catching Ends The Pleasure Of The Chase.

We Here Highly Resolve That These Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain.

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.

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.

War, At The Best, Is Terrible, And This War Of Ours, In Its Magnitude And In Its Duration, Is One Of The Most Terrible.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Telling The Truth

If There Is No Military Need For The Building, Leave It Alone, Neither Putting Anyone In Or Out Of It, Except On Finding Some One Preaching Or Practicing Treason, In Which Case Lay Hands On Him, Just As If He Were Doing The Same Thing In Any Other Building.

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

The Highest Art Is Always The Most Religious, And The Greatest Artist Is Always A Devout Person.

Nations Do Not Die From Invasion; They Die From Internal Rottenness.

I Therefore Consider That In View Of The Constitution And The Laws, The Union Is Unbroken; And To The Extent Of My Ability I Shall Take Care, As The Constitution Itself Expressly Enjoins Upon Me, That The Laws Of The Union Be Faithfully Executed In All The States.

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

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.

One Company Can Serve Some Of Your Needs All Of The Time, Or All Of Your Needs Some Of The Time, But Never Both.

You Can Have Anything You Want If You Want It Badly Enough. You Can Be Anything You Want To Be, Do Anything You Set Out To Accomplish If You Hold To That Desire With Singleness Of Purpose.

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'.

I Cannot Think That We Are Useless Or God Would Not Have Created Us.

It Is To Deny, What The History Of The World Tells Us Is True, To Suppose That Men Of Ambition And Talents Will Not Continue To Spring Up Amongst Us. And, When They Do, They Will As Naturally Seek The Gratification Of Their Ruling Passion, As Others Have So Done Before Them.

And Whereas It Is The Duty Of Nations As Well As Of Men, To Own Their Dependence Upon The Overruling Power Of God ... And To Recognize The Sublime Truth, Announced In The Holy Scriptures And Proven By All History, That Those Nations Only Are Blessed Whose God Is The Lord.

Here In My Heart, My Happiness, My House. Here Inside The Lighted Window Is My Love, My Hope, My Life. Peace Is My Companion On The Pathway Winding To The Threshold. Inside This Portal Dwells New Strength In The Security, Serenity, And Radiance Of Those I Love Above Life Itself. Here Two Will Build New Dreams--dreams That Tomorrow Will Come True. The World Over, These Are The Thoughts At Eventide When Footsteps Turn Ever Homeward. In The Haven Of The Hearthside Is Rest And Peace And Comfort.

I Think That One Of The Causes Of These Repeated Failures Is That Our Best And Greatest Men Have Greatly Underestimated The Size Of This Question (slavery). They Have Constantly Brought Forward Small Cures For Great Sores-plasters Too Small To Cover The Wound. That Is One Reason That All Settlements Have Proved So Temporary-so Evanescent.

We Want, And Must Have, A National Policy, As To Slavery, Which Deals With It As Being Wrong.

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

While The People Retain Their Virtue And Vigilance, No Administration, By Any Extreme Of Wickedness Or Folly, Can Very Seriously Injure The Government In The Short Space Of Four Years.

I Hold It To Be A Paramount Duty Of Us In The Free States, Due To The Union Of The States, And Perhaps To Liberty Itself (paradox Though It May Seem) To Let The Slavery Of The Other States Alone; While, On The Other Hand, I Hold It To Be Equally Clear, That We Should Never Knowingly Lend Ourselves Directly Or Indirectly, To Prevent That Slavery From Dying A Natural Death--to Find New Places For It To Live In, When It Can No Longer Exist In The Old.

Money Powers Prey Upon The Nation In Times Of Peace & Conspire Against It In Times Of Adversity.

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?

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

I Dared Not Trust The Case On The Presumption That The Court Knows Everything. In Fact, I Argued It On The Presumption That The Court Didn't Know Anything.

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.

And Upon This Act [emancipation Proclamation]...i Invoke...the Gracious Favor Of Almighty God.

Emancipation Proclamation

I Am Now The Most Miserable Man Living. If What I Feel Were Felt By The Whole Human Race, There Would Not Be One Cheerful Face Left On Earth.

History Is Not History Unless It Is The Truth.

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

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.

The Greatest Lessons I Have Every Learned Were At My Mother's Knees... All That I Am, Or Hope To Be, I Owe To My Angel Mother.

No Client Ever Had Money Enough To Bribe My Conscience Or To Stop Its Utterance Against Wrong, And Oppression.

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.

If I Were To Try To Read, Much Less Answer, All The Attacks Made On Me, This Shop Might As Well Be Closed For Any Other Business. I Do The Very Best I Know How - The Very Best I Can; And I Mean To Keep Doing So Until The End. If The End Brings Me Out All Right, What's Said Against Me Won't Amount To Anything. If The End Brings Me Out Wrong, Ten Angels Swearing I Was Right Would Make No Difference.

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

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.

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

Peace Will Come Soon To Stay, And So Come As To Be Worth Keeping In All Future Time. It Will Then Have Proved That Among Free Men There Can Be No Successful Appeal From The Ballot To The Bullet, And That They Who Take Such Appeal Are Sure Their Cases And Pay The Costs.

Don't Pray That God's On Our Side, Pray That We're On His Side.

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

If This Country Is Ever Demoralized, It Will Come From Trying To Live Without Work.

If 600,000 People Have To Die In Order For The Nation To Live, Then 600,000 People Will Die.

We Must Work Earnestly In The Best Light He Gives Us.

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.

No Client Ever Had Money Enough To Bribe My Conscience Or To Stop Its Utterance Against Wrong, And Oppression. My Conscience Is My Own - My Creators - Not Man's. I Shall Never Sink The Rights Of Mankind To The Malice, Wrong, Or Avarice Of Another's Wishes, Though Those Wishes Come To Me In The Relation Of Client And Attorney.

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

Getting Back Together

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

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

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

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

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

We Hope All Danger May Be Overcome; But To Conclude That No Danger May Ever Arise Would Itself Be Extremely Dangerous.

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

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.

I Was Raised To Farm Work.

The People When Rightly And Fully Trusted Will Return The Trust.

The Purposes Of The Almighty Are Perfect, And Must Prevail, Though We Erring Mortals May Fail To Accurately Perceive Them In Advance. 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. Meanwhile We Must Work Earnestly In The Best Lights He Gives Us, Trusting That So Working Still Conduces To The Great Ends He Ordains. Surely He Intends Some Great Good To Follow This Mighty Convulsion, Which No Mortal Could Make, And No Mortal Could Stay.

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.

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

This Nation Under God

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

Freedom Is The Natural Condition Of The Human Race, In Which The Almighty Intended Men To Live. Those Who Fight The Purpose Of The Almighty Will Not Succeed. They Always Have Been, They Always Will Be Beaten.

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.

Anybody Will Do For You, But Not For Me.

As A General Rule, I Abstain From Reading Reports Of Attacks Upon Myself, Wishing Not To Be Provoked By That To Which I Cannot Properly Offer An Answer.

I Don't Believe In A Law To Prevent A Man From Getting Rich; It Would Do More Harm Than Good. So While We Do Not Propose Any War Upon Capital, We Do Wish To Allow The Humblest Man An Equal Chance To Get Rich With Everybody Else.

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.

And I Am Glad To Know That There Is A System Of Labor - Where The Laborer Can Strike If He Wants To! I Would To God That Such A System Prevailed All Over The World.

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

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.

If Any Personal Description Of Me Is Thought Desirable, It May Be Said, I Am, In Height, Six Feet, Four Inches, Nearly; Lean In Flesh, Weighing On An Average One Hundred And Eighty Pounds; Dark Complexion, With Coarse Black Hair, And Grey Eyes -- No Other Marks Or Brands Recollected.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

If The Good People In Their Wisdom Shall See Fit To Keep Me In The Background, I Have Been Too Familiar With Disappointments To Bevery Much Chagrined.

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

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

My Old Father Used To Have A Saying: If You Make A Bad Bargain, Hug It All The Tighter.

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

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

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.

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

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

Friends And Enemies

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.

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

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

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.

God Bless The Soldiers And Seamen, With All Their Brave Commanders.

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

So Viewing The Issue, No Choice Was Left But To Call Out The War Power Of The Government; And So To Resist Force, Employed For Its Destruction, By Force, For Its Preservation.

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

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.

This Is A World Of Compensations; And He Who Would Be No Slave, Must Consent To Have No Slave.

Labor Is Prior To, And Independent Of, Capital. Capital Is Only The Fruit Of Labor, And Could Never Have Existed If Labor Had Not First Existed. Labor Is The Superior Of Capital, And Deserves Much The Higher Consideration.

Character Is Like A Tree And Reputation Like A Shadow. The Shadow Is What We Think Of It; The Tree Is The Real Thing.

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

Negro Equality, Fudge!! How Long In The Government Of A God Great Enough To Make And Maintain This Universe, Shall There Continue To Be Knaves To Vend And Fools To Gulp, So Low A Piece Of Demagoguism As This?

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.

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.

Human-nature Will Not Change.

Surely He Intends Some Great Good To Follow This Mighty Convulsion Which No Mortal Could Make, And No Mortal Could Stay.

The Best Way To Get Rid Of Your Enemies Is To Make Them Your Friends.

Care For Him Who Shall Have Borne The Battle

Widows And Orphans

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.

Kings Had Always Been Involving And Impoverishing Their People In Wars, Pretending Generally, If Not Always, That The Good Of The People Was The Object

The Fiery Trials Through Which We Pass Will Light Us Down In Honor Or Dishonor To The Latest Generation.

Congress And The President

I Have Come To The Conclusion Never Again To Think Of Marrying, And For This Reason, I Can Never Be Satisfied With Anyone Who Would Be Blockhead Enough To Have Me.

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.

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

Procrastination

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