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

-Abraham Lincoln

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The Mystic Chords Of

Abraham Lincoln

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

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

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.

Our Adversaries [ The Confederate States Of America ] Have Adopted Some Declarations Of Independence In Which, Unlike The Good Old One Penned By Jefferson, They Omit The Words "all Men Are Created Equal." Why? They Have Adopted A Temporary National Constitution, In The Preamble Of Which, Unlike Our Good Old One, Signed By Washington, They Omit "we, The People," And Substitute "we, The Deputies Of The Sovereign And Independent States." Why? Why This Deliberate Pressing Out Of View, The Rights Of Men, And The Authority Of The People?

We Cannot Ask A Man What He Will Do, And If We Should, And He Should Answer Us, We Should Despise Him For It. Therefore We Must Take A Man Whose Opinions Are Known.

You Must Remember That Some Things Legally Right Are Not Morally Right.

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.

I Am In Favor Of A National Bank...in Favor Of The Internal Improvements System And A High Protective Tariff.

Always Bear In Mind That Your Own Resolution To Succeed Is More Important Than Any Other.

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.

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

Democracies Have

If I Had My Way, This War Would Never Have Been Commenced. If I Had Been Allowed My Way This War Would Have Been Ended Before This.

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

Our Attitude Is More Honest And More Consistent Than Our Words.

Books Serve To Show A Man That Those Original Thoughts Of His Aren't Very New At All.

New Relationship

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.

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

You Cannot Help Small Men By Tearing Down Big Men.

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.

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.

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

Whether You Look For The Good Or Look For The Bad In A Person, You'll Find It." A. Lincoln

I Have Two Great Enemies, The Southern Army In Front Of Me And The Bankers In The Rear. Of The Two, The One At My Rear Is My Greatest Foe.

I Never Trusted A Man Who Never Smoked Or Drank.

Trusting In Him, Who Can Go With Me, And Remain With You And Be Every Where For Good, Let Us Confidently Hope That All Will Yet Be Well. To His Care Commending You, As I Hope In Your Prayers You Will Commend Me, I Bid You An Affectionate Farewell.

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.

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

The Better Part Of One's Life Consists Of His Friendships.

It Is Most Cheering And Encouraging For Me To Know That In The Efforts Which I Have Made And Am Making For The Restoration Of A Righteous Peace To Our Country, I Am Upheld And Sustained By The Good Wishes And Prayers Of God's People. No One Is More Deeply Than Myself Aware That Without His Favor Our Highest Wisdom Is But As Foolishness And That Our Most Strenuous Efforts Would Avail Nothing In The Shadow Of His Displeasure.

I Believe I Shall Never Be Old Enough To Speak Without Embarrassment When I Have Nothing To Talk About.

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

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.

Military Necessity Does Not Admit Of Cruelty - That Is, The Infliction Of Suffering For The Sake Of Suffering Or For Revenge, . . . Nor Of Torture To Extort Confessions.

I Know There Is A God, And That He Hates Injustice And Slavery. I See The Storm Coming, And I Know That His Hand Is In It. If He Has A Place And Work For Me - And I Think He Has - I Believe I Am Ready.

Confused And Stunned, Like A Duck Hit On The Head.

Too Big To Cry Too Young To Laugh.

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

While We Are Grateful To All The Brave Men And Officers For The Events Of The Past Few Days, We Should, Above All, Be Very Grateful To Almighty God, Who Gives Us Victory.

We Know Nothing Of What Will Happen In Future, But By The Analogy Of Experience.

I Am Busily Engaged In The Study Of The Bible. I Believe It Is God's Word Because It Finds Me Where I Am.

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

God Bless The Methodist Church - Bless All The Churches - And Blessed Be God, Who, In This Our Great Trial, Giveth Us The Churches.

Discipline Is Choosing Between What You Want Now, And What You Want Most.

A Noble Spirit Embiggens The Smallest Man.

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

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.

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.

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.

Four Score And Seven Years Ago Our Fathers Brought Forth On This Continent, A New Nation, Conceived In Liberty, And Dedicated To The Proposition That All Men Are Created Equal.

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?"

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.

It Often Requires More Courage To Dare To Do Right Than To Fear To Do Wrong.

Let Reverence For The Laws . . . Become The Political Religion Of The Nation.

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

Capital Is Only The Fruit Of Labor, And Could Never Have Existed If Labor Had Not First Existed. Labor Is The Superior Ofcapital, And Deserves Muchthe Higher Consideration.

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

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.

The President To-night Has A Dream: - He Was In A Party Of Plain People, And, As It Became Known Who He Was, They Began To Comment On His Appearance. One Of Them Said: - "he Is A Very Common-looking Man". The President Replied: - "the Lord Prefers Common-looking People. That Is The Reason He Makes So Many Of Them".

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

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.

From Whence Shall We Expect The Approach Of Danger? Shall Some Trans-atlantic Military Giant Step The Earth And Crush Us At A Blow? Never. All The Armies Of Europe And Asia...could Not By Force Take A Drink From The Ohio River Or Make A Track On The Blue Ridge In The Trial Of A Thousand Years. No, If Destruction Be Our Lot We Must Ourselves Be Its Author And Finisher. As A Nation Of Free Men We Will Live Forever Or Die By Suicide.

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

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

I Know Not How To Aid You, Save In The Assurance Of One Of Mature Age, And Much Severe Experience, That You Can Not Fail, If You Resolutely Determine, That You Will Not.

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

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

In Law It Is Good Policy To Never Plead What You Need Not, Lest You Oblige Yourself To Prove What You Can Not.

The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice

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.

If The Union Of These States, And The Liberties Of This People, Shall Be Lost, It Is But Little To Any One Man Of Fifty-two Yearsof Age, But A Great Deal To The Thirty Millions Of People Who Inhabit These United States, And To Their Posterity In All Coming Time.

We Think Slavery A Great Moral Wrong, And While We Do Not Claim The Right To Touch It Where It Exists, We Wish To Treat It As A Wrong In The Territories, Where Our Votes Will Reach It.

I Claim Not To Have Controlled Events, But Confess Plainly That Events Have Controlled Me. 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. Whither It Is Tending Seems Plain. If God Now Wills The Removal Of A Great Wrong, And Wills Also That We Of The North As Well As You Of The South, Shall Pay Fairly For Our Complicity In That Wrong, Impartial History Will Find Therein New Cause To Attest And Revere The Justice And Goodness Of God.

There Was The Strangest Combination Of Church Influence Against Me. Baker Is A Campbellite; And Therefore, As I Suppose With Few Exceptions, Got All Of That Church. My Wife Had Some Relations In The Presbyterian Churches, And Some In The Episcopal Churches; And Therefore, Wherever It Would Tell, I Was Set Down As Either One Or The Other, While It Was Everywhere Contended That No Christian Ought To Vote For Me Because I Belonged To No Church, And Was Suspected Of Being A Deist And Had Talked Of Fighting A Duel.

I Turn, Then, And Look To The American People And To That God Who Has Never Forsaken Them.

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

Character Is The Tree, Reputation Is The Shadow.

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

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

Congress And The President

If You Trust, You Will Be Disappointed Occasionally, But If You Mistrust, You Will Be Miserable All The Time.

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

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.

Towering Genius Disdains A Beaten Path ... It Scorns To Tread In The Footsteps Of Any Predecessor, However Illustrious. It Thirsts For Distinction.

Have I Not Destroyed My Enemy When I Have Made Him Into My Friend?

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.

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].

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

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

Whereas, The Senate Of The United States, Devoutly Recognizing The Supreme Authority And Just Government Of Almighty God, In All The Affairs Of Men And Of Nations, Has, By A Resolution, Requested The President To Designate And Set Apart A Day For National Prayer And Humiliation.

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.

I Was Raised To Farm Work.

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

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

[i]f The Policy Of The Government, Upon Vital Questions Affecting, The Whole People Is To Be Irrevocably Fixed By Decisions Of The Supreme Court, The Instant They Are Made, In Ordinary Litigation Between Parties In Personal Actions, The People Will Have Ceased, To Be Their Own Rulers, Having, To That Extent, Practically Resigned Their Government, Into The Hands Of That Eminent Tribunal.

I Have A Congenital Aversion To Failure.

I Fear You Do Not Fully Comprehend The Danger Of Abridging The Liberties Of The People. Nothing But The Sternest Necessity Can Ever Justify It. A Government Had Better Go To The Extreme Of Toleration, Than To Do Aught That Could Be Construed Into An Interference With, Or To Jeopardize In Any Degree, The Common Rights Of Its Citizens.

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

You Can't Escape Tomorrow's Responsibilities By Evading It Today

Love Is The Chain Whereby To Bind A Child To Its Parents.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

As The Problems Are New, We Must Disenthrall Ourselves From The Past.

With Malice Towards None; With Charity For All.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition. Whether It Be True Or Not, I Can Say For One That I Have No Other So Great As That Of Being Truly Esteemed Of My Fellow Men, By Rendering Myself Worthy Of Their Esteem.

Nothing Is More Damaging To You Than To Do Something That You Believe Is Wrong.

It Is Bad To Be Poor. I Shall Go To The Wall For Bread And Meat, If I Neglect My Business This Year As Well As Last.

Think Of Strangers As Friends You Not Met Yet.

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.

I Can See How It Might Be Possible For A Man To Look Down Upon The Earth And Be An Atheist, But I Cannot Conceive How A Man Could Look Up Into The Heavens And Say There Is No God.

You Are Ambitious, Which, Within Reasonable Bounds, Does Good Rather Than Harm.

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.

It's Bad. It's Damned Bad.

The Prudent, Penniless Beginner In The World, Labors For Wages Awhile, Saves A Surplus With Which To Buy Tools Or Land, For Himself; Then Labors On His Own Account Another While, And At Length Hires Another New Beginner To Help Him. This, Say Its Advocates, Is Free Labor-the Just And Generous, And Prosperous System, Which Opens The Way For All-gives Hope To All, And Energy, And Progress, And Improvement Of Condition To All.

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.

Those Who Look For The Bad In People Will Surely Find It.

In My Entire Life I Have Only Met Four "perfect" People... And I Disliked Them All.

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

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

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

Care For Him Who Shall Have Borne The Battle

Widows And Orphans

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

No Man Has A Right To Judge Andrew Johnson In Any Respect Who Has Not Suffered As Much And Done As Much As He For The Nation's Sake.

We All Declare For Liberty; But In Using The Same Word We Do Not All Mean The Same Thing. With Some The Word Liberty May Mean For Each Man To Do As He Pleases With Himself, And The Product Of His Labor; While With Others, The Same Word Many Mean For Some Men To Do As They Please With Other Men, And The Product Of Other Men's Labor. Here Are Two, Not Only Different, But Incompatible Things, Called By The Same Name - Liberty. And It Follows That Each Of The Things Is, By The Respective Parties, Called By Two Different And Incompatible Names - Liberty And Tyranny.

I Told Myself, "lincoln, You Can Never Make A Lawyer If You Do Not Understand What Demonstrate Means." So I Left My Situation In Springfield, Went Home To My Father's House, And Stayed There Till I Could Give Any Proposition In The Six Books Of Euclid At Sight. I Then Found Out What "demonstrate" Means, And Went Back To My Law Studies.

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

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

Never Stir Up Litigation. A Worse Man Can Scarcely Be Found Than One Who Does This.

Certainly There Is No Contending Against The Will Of God; But Still There Is Some Difficulty In Ascertaining, And Applying It, To Particular Cases.

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.

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

I Have Had So Many Evidences Of [god's] Direction, So Many Instances When I Have Been Controlled By Some Other Power Than My Own Will, That I Cannot Doubt That This Power Comes From Above.

Evidence Of God

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

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

My Father Taught Me To Work, But Not To Love It. I Never Did Like To Work, And I Don't Deny It. I'd Rather Read, Tell Stories, Crack Jokes, Talk, Laugh -- Anything But Work.

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

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.

Let Us Do Nothing Through Passion And Ill Temper.

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

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

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

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.

All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.

The Things I Want To Know Are In Books; My Best Friend Is The Man Who'll Get Me A Book I Ain't Read.

I Have Really Got It Into My Head To Try To Be United States Senator, And, If I Could Have Your Support, My Chances Would Be Reasonably Good. But I Know, And Acknowledge, That You Have As Just Claims To The Place As I Have; And Therefore I Cannot Ask You To Yield To Me, If You Are Thinking Of Becoming A Candidate, Yourself. If, However, You Are Not, Then I Should Like To Be Remembered Affectionately By You; And Also To Have You Make A Mark For Me With The Anti-nebraska Members Down Your Way.

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

A Woman Is The Only Thing I Am Afraid Of That I Know Will Not Hurt Me.

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

I Take It That It Is Best For All To Leave Each Man Free To Acquire Property As Fast As He Can. Some Will Get Wealthy. I Dont Believe In A Law To Prevent A Man From Getting Rich; It Would Do More Harm Than Good.

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.

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.'

I Have Not Permitted Myself, Gentlemen, To Conclude That I Am The Best Man In The Country; But I Am Reminded, In This Connection, Of A Story Of An Old Dutch Farmer, Who Remarked To A Companion Once That "it Was Not Best To Swap Horses When Crossing Streams."

Always Remember: Life Is For Enjoying.

Inspirational Life

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

Friends, I Agree With You In Providence; But I Believe In The Providence Of The Most Men, The Largest Purse, And The Longest Cannon.

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.

It Is Not Merely For To-day, But For All Time To Come That We Should Perpetuate For Our Children's Children This Great And Free Government, Which We Have Enjoyed All Our Lives.

I Have Simply Tried To Do What Seemed Best Each Day, As Each Day Came.

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

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

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

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.

Everybody Likes A Compliment.

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.

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

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

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

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

Slavery Is Wrong. If Slavery Is Right, All Words, Acts, Laws, And Constitutions Against It, Are Themselves Wrong, And Should Be Silenced, And Swept Away.

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

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

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

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.

Tact Is The Ability To Describe Others As They See Themselves.

Public Opinion, Though Often Formed Upon A Wrong Basis, Yet Generally Has A Strong Underlying Sense Of Justice.

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.

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

I Must Keep Some Standard Of Principle Fixed Within Myself.

As To The Whiskers, Having Never Worn Any, Do You Not Think People Would Call It A Piece Of Silly Affectation If I Were To Begin It Now?

But Let The Past As Nothing Be. For The Future My View Is That The Fight Must Go On.

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.

Reputation Is Like Fine China: Once Broken It's Very Hard To Repair.

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.

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

The Constitution Is Not A Suicide Pact.

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.

If I Am Killed, I Can Die By Once; But To Live In Constant Dread Of It, Is To Die Over And Over Again.

If You Are Resolutely Determined To Make A Lawyer Of Yourself, The Thing Is More Than Half Done Already.

Cortissoz Was Art Critic Of The New York Herald Tribune.

Our Popular Government Has Often Been Called An Experiment. Two Points In It Our People Have Already Settled, The Successful Establishing And The Successful Administering Of It. One Still Remains, Its Successful Maintenance Against A Formidable Internal Attempt To Overthrow It.

Great Men Are Ordinary Men With Extra Ordinary Determination.

If As The Friends Of Colonization Hope, The Present And Coming Generations Of Our Countrymen Shall By Any Means, Succeed In Freeing Our Land From The Dangerous Presence Of Slavery; And, At The Same Time, In Restoring A Captive People To Their Long-lost Father-land, With Bright Prospects For The Future; And This Too, So Gradually, That Neither Races Nor Individuals Shall Have Suffered By The Change, It Will Indeed Be A Glorious Consummation.

He Can Compress The Most Words Into The Smallest Ideas Of Any Man I Ever Met.

I Have Neither Time Nor Disposition To Enter Into Discussion With The Friend, And End This Occasion By Suggesting For Her Consideration The Question Whether, If It Be True That The Lord Has Appointed Me To Do The Work She Has Indicated, It Is Not Probable That He Would Have Communicated Knowledge Of The Fact To Me As Well As To Her.

It Is Said An Eastern Monarch Once Charged His Wise Men To Invent Him A Sentence To Be Ever In View, And Which Should Be True And Appropriate In All Times And Situations. They Presented Him The Words, "and This Too, Shall Pass Away." How Much It Expresses! How Chastening In The Hour Of Pride! How Consoling In The Depths Of Affliction!

Tangible Language, Which Often Tells More Falsehoods Than Truths.

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

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

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

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Norman Schwarzkopf

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