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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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The Purposes Of The

Abraham Lincoln

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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.

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

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.

And, Inasmuch [as] Most Good Things Are Produced By Labour, It Follows That All Such Things Of Right Belong To Those Whose Labour Has Produced Them. But It Has So Happened In All Ages Of The World, That Some Have Laboured, And Others Have, Without Labour, Enjoyed A Large Proportion Of The Fruits. This Is Wrong, And Should Not Continue. To [secure] To Each Labourer The Whole Product Of His Labour, Or As Nearly As Possible, Is A Most Worthy Object Of Any Good Government.

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

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

I Say Now, However, As I Have All The While Said, That On The Territorial Question - That Is, The Question Of Extending Slavery Under The National Auspices, - I Am Inflexible. I Am For No Compromise Which Assists Or Permits The Extension Of The Institution On Soil Owned By The Nation.

It Is Better Then, To Save The Work While It Is Begun. You Have Done The Labor; Maintain It - Keep It. If Men Choose To Serve You, Go With Them; But As You Have Made Up Your Organization Upon Principle, Stand By It; For As Surely As God Reigns Over You, And Has Inspired Your Mind, And Given You A Sense Of Propriety, And Continues To Give You Hope, So Surely Will You Still Cling To These Ideas, And You Will At Last Come Back After Your Wanderings, Merely To Do Your Work Over Again.

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

As The Patriots Of Seventy-six Did To The Support Of The Declaration Of Independence, So To The Support Of The Constitution And Laws, Let Every American Pledge His Life, His Property, And His Sacred Honor;-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.

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?

You Can Please Some Of The People Some Of The Time, All Of The People Some Of The Time, Some Of The People All Of The Time, But You Can Never Please All Of The People All Of The Time.

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".

In Regard To This Great Book, I Have But To Say, It Is The Best Gift God Has Given To Man.

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 Am Very Glad Indeed To See You To-night, And Yet I Will Not Say I Thank You For This Call, But I Do Most Sincerely Thank Almighty God For The Occasion On Which You Have Called.

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?

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.

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

In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be Wrong.

Intoxicated With Unbroken Success, We Have Become Too Self Sufficient To Feel The Necessity Of Redeeming And Preserving Grace, Too Proud To Pray To The God That Made Us.

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

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.

I Like To See A Man Proud Of The Place In Which He Lives. I Like To See A Man Live So That His Place Will Be Proud Of Him.

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.

I Desire So To Conduct The Affairs Of This Administration That If At The End... I Have Lost Every Other Friend On Earth, I Shall At Least Have One Friend Left, And That Friend Shall Be Down Inside Of Me.

I Will Prepare And Some Day My Chance Will Come.

When Judge Douglas Says That Whoever, Or Whatever Community, Wants Slaves, They Have A Right To Have Them, He Is Perfectly Logical If There Is Nothing Wrong In The Institution; But If You Admit That It Is Wrong, He Cannot Logically Say That Anybody Has A Right To Do Wrong.

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.

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.

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.

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

Neither Let Us Be Slandered From Our Duty By False Accusations Against Us, Nor Frightened From It By Menaces Of Destruction ... Nor Of Dungeons To Ourselves. Let Us Have Faith That Right Makes Might, And In That Faith, Let Us, To The End, Dare To Do Our Duty As We Understand It.

I Would Rather Be A Little Nobody, Then To Be A Evil Somebody.

The Press Has No Better Friend Than I Am, No One Who Is More Ready To Acknowledge . . . Its Tremendous Power For Both Good And Evil.

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

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

Will Springs From The Two Elements Of Moral Sense And Self-interest.

Adhere To Your Purpose And You Will Soon Feel As Well As You Ever Did. 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.

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

Your Rights End Where My Nose Begins.

No State, Upon It Own Mere Motion, Can Lawfully Get Out Of The Union. Resolves And Ordinances To That Effect Are Legally Nothing. I Therefore Consider That The Union Is Unbroken. There Needs To Be No Bloodshed Or Violence; And There Shall Be None, Unless Forced Upon The National Authority.

Gen. Schurz Thinks I Was A Little Cross In My Late Note To You. If I Was, I Ask Pardon. If I Do Get Up A Little Temper I Have No Sufficient Time To Keep It Up.

Never Let Your Correspondence Fall Behind.

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

...i Do Not Mean To Say That This General Government Is Charged With The Duty Of Redressing Or Preventing All The Wrongs In The World; But I Do Think That It Is Charged With The Duty Of Preventing And Redressing All Wrongs Which Are Wrongs To Itself.

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

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.

The Only Security A Man Can Ever Have Is The Ability To Do A Job Uncommonly Well.

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

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

This Nation Under God

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

A Day Spent Helping No One But Yourself Is A Day Wasted.

Work, Work, Work, Is The Main Thing.

Repeal The Missouri Compromise - Repeal All Compromises - Repeal The Declaration Of Independence - Repeal All Past History, You Still Can Not Repeal Human Nature. It Still Will Be The Abundance Of Man's Heart, That Slavery Extension Is Wrong; And Out Of The Abundance Of His Heart, His Mouth Will Continue To Speak.

Our Strife Pertains To Ourselves-to The Passing Generations Of Men-and It Can Without Convulsion Be Hushed Forever With The Passing Of One Generation.

If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong.

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

All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.

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

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

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

America Will Never Be Destroyed From The Outside. If We Falter And Lose Our Freedoms, It Will Be Because We Destroyed Ourselves.

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.

Extemporaneous Speaking Should Be Practised [sic] And Cultivated. It Is The Lawyer's Avenue To The Public. However Able And Faithful He May Be In Other Respects, People Are Slow To Bring Him Business If He Cannot Make A Speech. And Yet There Is Not A More Fatal Error To Young Lawyers Than Relying Too Much On Speech-making. If Any One, Upon His Rare Powers Of Speaking, Shall Claim An Exemption From The Drudgery Of The Law, His Case Is A Failure In Advance.

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.

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.

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

I 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.

Discourage Litigation. Persuade Your Neighbors To Compromise Whenever You Can.

Neighbors And Friends

Neighbors Friends

A Noble Spirit Embiggens The Smallest Man.

I Agree With You, Mr. Chairman, That The Working Men Are The Basis Of All Governments, For The Plain Reason That They Are The More Numerous, And As You Added That Those Were The Sentiments Of The Gentlemen Present, Representing Not Only The Working Class, But Citizens Of Other Callings Than Those Of The Mechanic, I Am Happy To Concur With You In These Sentiments, Not Only Of The Native Born Citizens, But Also Of The Germans And Foreigners From Other Countries.

Government Should Stand Behind Its Currency And Credit And The Bank Deposits Of The Nation. No Individual Should Suffer A Loss Of Money Through Depreciation Or Inflated Currency Of Bank Bankruptcy.

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

Making Mistakes

This Human Struggle And Scramble For Office, For A Way To Live Without Work, Will Finally Test The Strength Of Our Institutions.

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

If I Were Two-faced, Would I Be Wearing This One?

One Eighth Of The Whole Population Were Colored Slaves, Not Distributed Generally Over The Union, But Localized In The Southern Part Of It. These Slaves Constituted A Peculiar And Powerful Interest. All Knew That This Interest Was, Somehow, The Cause Of The War.

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...

There Are No Accidents In My Philosophy. Every Effect Must Have Its Cause. The Past Is The Cause Of The Present, And The Present Will Be The Cause Of The Future. All These Are Links In The Endless Chain Stretching From The Finite To The Infinite.

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 What Light I Have.

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.

A Long Visit To A Friend Is Often A Great Bore. Never Make People Twice Glad.

Inspirational Life

In This Age, In This Country, Public Sentiment Is Everything. With It, Nothing Can Fail; Against It, Nothing Can Succeed. Whoever Molds Public Sentiment Goes Deeper Than He Who Enacts Statutes, Or Pronounces Judicial Decisions.

The Master Not Only Governs The Slave Without His Consent, But He Governs Him By A Set Of Rules Altogether Different From Those Which He Prescribes For Himself. Allow All The Governed An Equal Voice In The Government, And That, And That Only, Is Self-government.

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

Wise Statesmen ... Established These Great Self-evident Truths, That When In The Distant Future Some Man, Some Faction, Some Interest, Should Set Up The Doctrine That None But Rich Men, Or None But White Men, Were Entitled To Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness, Their Posterity Should Look Up Again At The Declaration Of Independence And Take Courage To Renew The Battle Which Their Fathers Began.

Pursuit Of Happiness

Every Head Should Be Cultivated.

Lets Have Faith That Right Makes Might; And In That Faith Let Us, To The End, Dare To Do Our Duty As We Understand It.

Prosperity Is The Fruit Of Labor. It Begins With Saving Money.

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

Our Reliance Is In The Love Of Liberty Which God Has Planted In Our Bosoms.

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.

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

Hypocrite: The Man Who Murdered His Parents, And Then Pleaded For Mercy On The Grounds That He Was An Orphan.

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.

He Has Got The Slows, Mr. Blair.

I Certainly Know That If The War Fails, The Administration Fails, And That I Will Be Blamed For It, Whether I Deserve It Or Not. And I Ought To Be Blamed, If I Could Do Better. You Think I Could Do Better; Therefore You Blame Me Already. I Think I Could Not Do Better; Therefore I Blame You For Blaming Me.

Glory To God In The Highest, Ohio Has Saved The Nation.

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

Democracy Is "government Of, By And For The People".

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.

Almost Every Thing, Especially Of Governmental Policy, Is An Inseparable Compound Of The Two [good And Evil].

When You Have Got An Elephant By The Hind Legs And He Is Trying To Run Away, It's Best To Let Him Run.

A Capacity, And Taste, For Reading, Gives Access To Whatever Has Already Been Discovered By Others. It Is The Key, Or One Of The Keys, To The Already Solved Problems. And Not Only So. It Gives A Relish, And Facility, For Successfully Pursuing The [yet] Unsolved Ones.

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.

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.

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

If Ever This Free People, If This Government Itself Is Ever Utterly Demoralized, It Will Come From This Incessant Human Wriggle And Struggle For Office, Which Is But A Way To Live Without Work.

History Is Not History Unless It Is The Truth.

I Am For The People Of The Whole Nation Doing Just As They Please In All Matters Which Concern The Whole Nation; For That Of Each Part Doing Just As They Choose In All Matters Which Concern No Other Part; And For Each Individual Doing Just As He Chooses In All Matters Which Concern Nobody Else.

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

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

Tangible Language, Which Often Tells More Falsehoods Than Truths.

I Have No Wealthy Or Popular Relations To Recommend Me.

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

I Am Very Little Inclined On Any Occasion To Say Anything Unless I Hope To Produce Some Good By It.

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

Emancipation Proclamation

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

An Allusion Has Been Made To The Homestead Law. I Think It Worthy Of Consideration, And That The Wild Lands Of The Country Should Be Distributed So That Every Man Should Have The Means And Opportunity Of Benefitting His Condition.

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

Getting Back Together

In This Troublesome World, We Are Never Quite Satisfied. When You Were Here, I Thought You Hindered Me Some In Attending To Business; But Now, Having Nothing But Business---no Variety---it Has Grown Exceedingly Tasteless To Me. I Hate To Sit Down And Direct Documents, And I Hate To Stay In This Old Room By Myself.

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

To Read In The Bible, As The Word Of God Himself, That "in The Sweat Of Thy Face Shalt Thou Eat Bread, ["] And To Preach There-from That, "in The Sweat Of Other Mans Faces Shalt Thou Eat Bread," To My Mind Can Scarcely Be Reconciled With Honest Sincerity.

I Confess I Hate To See The Poor Creatures Hunted Down But I Bite My Lip And Keep Quiet.

Now If You Should Hear Any One Say That Lincoln Don't [sic] Want To Go To Congress, I Wish You As A Personal Friend Of Mine, Wouldtell Him That You Have Reason To Believe He Is Mistaken.

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

A Right Result, At This Time, Will Be Worth More To The World, Than Ten Times The Men, And Ten Times The Money.

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

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.

No Man Ever Got Lost On A Straight Road.

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

The Leading Rule For The Lawyer, As For The Man Of Every Other Calling, Is Diligence. Leave Nothing For To-morrow Which Can Be Done To-day.

Procrastination

Don't Be Fooled. I Kept All My Workout Clothes In That Top Hat.

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.

My Policy Is To Have No Policy.

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.

Law Is Nothing Else But The Best Reason Of Wise Men Applied For Ages To The Transactions And Business Of Mankind.

If All Do Not Join Now To Save The Good Old Ship Of The Union This Voyage Nobody Will Have A Chance To Pilot Her On Another Voyage.

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

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.

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

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

The Dogmas Of The Quiet Past Are Inadequate To The Stormy Present.

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

Nevertheless, Amid The Greatest Difficulties Of My Administration, When I Could Not See Any Other Resort, I Would Place My Whole Reliance On God, Knowing That All Would Go Well, And That He Would Decide For The Right.

I Find Quite As Much Material For A Lecture In Those Points Wherein I Have Failed, As In Those Wherein I Have Been Moderately Successful.

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

The Demon Of Intemperance Ever Seems To Have Delighted In Sucking The Blood Of Genius And Of Generosity. What One Of Us But Can Call To Mind Some Relative More Promising In Youth Than All His Fellows, Who Has Fallen A Sacrifice To His Rapacity?

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

Let Reverence For The Laws, Be Breathed By Every American Mother, To The Lisping Babe, That Prattles On Her Lap - Let It Be Taught In Schools, In Seminaries, And In Colleges; Let It Be Written In Primmers, Spelling Books, And In Almanacs; Let It Be Preached From The Pulpit, Proclaimed In Legislative Halls, And Enforced In Courts Of Justice.

Singular Indeed The People Should Be Writhing Under Oppression And Injury, And Yet Not One Among Them To Be Found, To Raise The Voice Of Complaint.

I Want In All Cases To Do Right.

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

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.

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

Truth Is Generally The Best Vindication Against Slander

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

In Any Future Great National Trial, Compared With The Men Of This, We Shall Have As Weak, And As Strong; As Silly And As Wise; Asbad And Good.

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

Our Common Country Is In Great Peril, Demanding The Loftiest Views, And Boldest Action To Bring It Speedy Relief.

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

Ready Are We All To Cry Out And Ascribe Motives When Our Toes Are Pinched.

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

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.

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.

The Union Is Much Older Than The Constitution. It Was Formed In Fact, By The Articles Of Association In 1774. It Was Matured And Continued By The Declaration Of Independence In 1776.

I Hope It Will Not Be Irreverent In Me To Say, That If It Be Probable That God Would Reveal His Will To Others, On A Point So Connected With My Duty, It Might Be Supposed He Would Reveal It Directly To Me

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

My God! My God! What Will The Country Say?

The Government Should Create, Issue, And Circulate All The Currency And Credits Needed To Satisfy The Spending Power Of The Government And The Buying Power Of Consumers. By The Adoption Of These Principles, The Taxpayers Will Be Saved Immense Sums Of Interest. Money Will Cease To Be Master And Become The Servant Of Humanity.

One's Only Security In Life Comes From Doing Something Uncommonly Well.

The Cause Of Civil Liberty Must Not Be Surrendered At The End Of One, Or Even One Hundred Defeats.

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

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.

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.

God Must Love The Common Man, He Made So Many Of Them.

I Have Always Thought That All Men Should Be Free; But If Any Should Be Slaves, It Should Be First Those Who Desire For Themselves, And Secondly Those Who Desire It For Others. Whenever I Hear Anyone Arguing For Slavery, I Feel A Strong Impulse To See It Tried On Him Personally.

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

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

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

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

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.

Tis Better People Think You A Fool, Then Open Your Mouth And Erase All Doubt.

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.

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.

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

In Regards To This Great Book [the Bible], I Have But To Say It Is The Best Gift God Has Given To Man. All The Good The Savior Gave To The World Was Communicated Through This Book. But For It We Could Not Know Right From Wrong. All Things Most Desirable For Man's Welfare, Here And Hereafter, Are Found Portrayed In It.

If It Were Not For My Firm Belief In An Overruling Providence, It Would Be Difficult For Me, In The Midst Of Such Complications Of Affairs, To Keep My Reason On Its Seat. But I Am Confident That The Almighty Has His Plans, And Will Work Them Out; And, Whether We See It Or Not, They Will Be The Best For Us.

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.

Beavers Build Houses; But They Build Them In Nowise Differently, Or Better Now, Than They Did, Five Thousand Years Ago. Ants, And Honey-bees, Provide Food For Winter; But Just In The Same Way They Did, When Solomon Referred The Sluggard To Them As Patterns Of Prudence. Man Is Not The Only Animal Who Labors; But He Is The Only One Who Improves His Workmanship.

The Better Angels Of Our Nature

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand." I Believe This Government Cannot Endure, Permanently Half Slave And Half Free. I Do Not Expect The Union To Be Dissolved — I Do Not Expect The House To Fall — But I Do Expect It Will Cease To Be Divided. It Will Become All One Thing Or All The Other.

I Will Do What I Think Is Right And When I Discover That It Is Wrong, I Will Change It.

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

Anxiety Beclouds The Future.

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

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

It Is A Sin To Be Silent When It Is Your Duty To Protest.

I Am Glad To See That A System Of Labor Prevails Under Which Laborers Can Strike When They Want To.

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