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The Will Of God Prevails. In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be, Wrong. God Cannot Be For And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time. In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party - And Yet The Human Instrumentalities, Working Just As They Do, Are Of The Best Adaptation To Effect His Purpose.

-Abraham Lincoln

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The Will Of God

Abraham Lincoln

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The Will Of God Prevails. In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be, Wrong. God Cannot Be For And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time. In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party - And Yet The Human Instrumentalities, Working Just As They Do, Are Of The Best Adaptation To Effect His Purpose.

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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.

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

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.

Inspirational Life

And I Do Further Recommend To My Fellow-citizens Aforesaid, That On That Occasion They Do Reverently Humble Themselves In The Dust, And From Thence Offer Up Penitent And Fervent Prayers And Supplications To The Great Disposer Of Events For A Return Of The Inestimable Blessings Of Peace, Union, And Harmony Throughout The Land Which It Has Pleased Him To Assign As A Dwelling-place For Ourselves And For Our Posterity Throughout All Generations.

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

Democracies Have

This Nation Under God

I Have Been Driven Many Times Upon My Knees By The Overwhelming Conviction That I Had No Where Else To Go. My Own Wisdom And That Of All About Me Seemed Insufficient For That Day.

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

Women Are The Only People I Am Afraid Of Who I Never Thought Would Hurt Me

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.

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.

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

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.

If I Have One Vice And I Can Call It Nothing Else It Is Not Able To Say 'no'.

God Can Not Be For, And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time.

Any People Anywhere, Being Inclined And Having The Power, Have The Right To Rise Up, And Shake Off The Existing Government, And Form A New One That Suits Them Better. This Is A Most Valuable - A Most Sacred Right - A Right, Which We Hope And Believe, Is To Liberate The World.

Capital Has Its Proper Place And Is Entitled To Every Protection. The Wages Of Men Should Be Recognized In The Structure Of And In The Social Order As More Important Than The Wages Of Money [interest].

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

I Laugh Because I Must Not Cry, That Is All, That Is All.

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.

Others Have Been Made Fools Of By The Girls; But, This Can Never Be With Truth Said Of Me. I Most Emphatically, In This Instance,made A Fool Of Myself.

Too Big To Cry Too Young To Laugh.

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

I Happen Temporarily To Occupy This Big White House. I Am Living Witness That Any One Of Your Children May Look To Come Here As My Father's Child Has.

There Is An Important Sense In Which Government Is Distinctive From Administration. One Is Perpetual, The Other Is Temporary And Changeable. A Man May Be Loyal To His Government And Yet Oppose The Particular Principles And Methods Of Administration.

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

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?

Human Action Can Be Modified To Some Extent, But Human Nature Can Not Be Changed

Words Of Wisdom

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

You Say Men Ought To Be Hung For The Way They Are Executing The Law; I Say The Way It Is Being Executed Is Quite As Good As Any Of Its Antecedents. It Is Being Executed In The Precise Way Which Was Intended From The First, Else Why Does No Nebraska Man Express Astonishment Or Condemnation? Poor Reeder Is The Only Public Man Who Has Been Silly Enough To Believe That Anything Like Fairness Was Ever Intended, And He Has Been Bravely Undeceived.

Most People Are As Happy As They Want To Be.

That Some Achieve Great Success, Is Proof To All That Others Can Achieve It As Well.

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

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

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.

The Union, And The Constitution, Are The Picture Of Silver, Subsequently Framed Around It. The Picture Was Not Made To Conceal Or Destroy The Apple, But To Adorn And Preserve It. The Picture Was Made For The Apple-not The Apple For The Picture.

Without The Assistance Of That Divine Being...i Cannot Succeed. With That Assistance I Cannot Fail.

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

Your Rights End Where My Nose Begins.

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

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

I Am Busily Engaged In Study Of The Bible.

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. Leaving The Higher Matter Of Eternal Consequences, Between Him And His Maker, I Still Do Not Think Any Man Has The Right Thus To Insult The Feelings, And Injure The Morals, Of The Community In Which He May Live.

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

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

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

I Have Never Studied The Art Of Paying Compliments To Women; But I Must Say That If All That Has Been Said By Orators And Poets Since The Creation Of The World In Praise Of Women Were Applied To The Women Of America, It Would Not Do Them Justice For Their Conduct During This War.

But The Proclamation, As Law, Either Is Valid, Or Is Not Valid. If It Is Not Valid, It Needs No Retraction. If It Is Valid, It Can Not Be Retracted, Any More Than The Dead Can Be Brought To Life.

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

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

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

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.

Why Don't I Drink From A Straw? Because Straws Are For Suckers.

Life Is Hard But So Very Beautiful

If We Have No Friends, We Have No Pleasure; And If We Have Them, We Are Sure To Lose Them, And Be Doubly Pained By The Loss.

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.

I Wish All Men To Be Free. I Wish The Material Prosperity Of The Already Free Which I Feel Sure The Extinction Of Slavery Would Bring.

Adversity Does Not Make Us Frail; It Only Shows Us How Frail We Are.

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

Telling The Truth

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

Woe Unto The World Because Of Offenses; For It Must Needs Be That Offenses Come, But Woe To That Man By Whom The Offense Cometh.

The Slave-breeders And Slave-traders, Are A Small, Odious And Detested Class, Among You; And Yet In Politics, They Dictate The Course Of All Of You, And Are As Completely Your Masters, As You Are The Master Of Your Own Negroes.

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

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

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

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.

[t]he Man Who, In The Concrete Pressure Of A Struggle For National Independence By A Single People, Had The Coolness, Forecast, And Capacity To Introduce Into A Merely Revolutionary Document, An Abstract Truth, Applicable To All Men And All Times, And So To Embalm It There, That To-day, And In All Coming Days, It Shall Be A Rebuke And A Stumbling-block To The Very Harbingers Of Reappearing Tyranny And Oppression.

Few Can Be Induced To Labor Exclusively For Posterity; And None Will Do It Enthusiastically. Posterity Has Done Nothing For Us; And Theorize On It As We May, Practically We Shall Do Very Little For It, Unless We Are Made To Think We Are At The Same Time Doing Something For Ourselves.

My Paramount Object In This Struggle Is To Save The Union, And Is Not Either To Save Or To Destroy Slavery. 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 Save It By Freeing Some And Leaving Others Alone I Would Also Do That. What I Do About Slavery, And The Colored Race, I Do Because I Believe It Helps To Save The Union; And What I Forbear, I Forbear Because I Do Not Believe It Would Help To Save The Union.

As A Peacemaker The Lawyer Has Superior Opportunity Of Being A Good Man.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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?

All The Armies Of Europe, Asia And Africa Combined, With All The Treasure Of The Earth (our Own Excepted) In Their Military Chest; With A Buonaparte For A Commander, Could Not By Force, Take A Drink From The Ohio, Or Make A Track On The Blue Ridge, In A Trial Of A Thousand Years.

He Who Represents Himself Has A Fool For A Client

The Will Of God Prevails. In Great Contests Each Party Claims To Act In Accordance With The Will Of God. Both May Be, And One Must Be, Wrong. God Cannot Be For And Against The Same Thing At The Same Time. In The Present Civil War It Is Quite Possible That God's Purpose Is Something Different From The Purpose Of Either Party - And Yet The Human Instrumentalities, Working Just As They Do, Are Of The Best Adaptation To Effect His Purpose.

I Have Always Found That Mercy Bears Richer Fruits Than Strict Justice.

I Can't Spare This Man, He Fights!

If At Any Time All Labour Should Cease, And All Existing Provisions Be Equally Divided Among The People, At The End Of A Single Year There Could Scarcely Be One Human Being Left Alive--all Would Have Perished By Want Of Subsistence.

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

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

You Know You've Reached Middle Age When All You Exercise Is Caution

I Have Just Read Your Dispatch About Sore-tongued And Fatigued Horses, Will You Pardon Me For Asking What The Horses Of Your Army Have Done Since The Battle Of Antietam That Fatigues Anything?

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

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

The Demon Of Intemperance Ever Seems To Have Delighted In Sucking The Blood Of Genius And Of Generosity.

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

Force Is All Conquering, But It's Victories Are Short Lived.

A Nation That Does Not Honor Its Heroes Will Not Long Endure.

Anxiety Beclouds The Future.

The Probability That We May Fail In The Struggle Ought Not To Deter Us From The Support Of A Cause We Believe To Be Just.

...let Us Discard All This Quibbling About This Man And The Other Man-this Race And That Race And The Other Race Being Inferior, And Therefore They Must Be Placed In And Inferior Position...let Us Discard All These Things, And Unite As One People Throughout This Land, Until We Shall Once More Stand Up Declaring That All Men Are Created Equal.

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

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

I Destroy My Enemy If I Make Him My Friend.

It Has Been My Experience That Folks Who Have No Vices Have Very Few Virtues.

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'.

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

Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.

I Think That God Means That We Shall Do More Than We Have Yet Done In Furtherance Of His Plans And He Will Open The Way For Our Doing It.

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

Nearly All Men Can Stand Adversity, But If You Want To Test A Man's Character, Give Him Power.

Don't Swap Horses In The Middle Of The Stream.

The Constitution Is Not A Suicide Pact.

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.

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

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

Emancipation Proclamation

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

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

You Cannot Bring About Prosperity By Discouraging Thrift. You Cannot Establish Sound Security On Borrowed Money. You Cannot Keep Out Of Trouble By Spending More Than You Earn.

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

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

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

I Do Not Understand That Because I Do Not Want A Negro Woman For A Slave I Must Necessarily Want Her For A Wife. My Understanding Is That I Can Just Let Her Alone.

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

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.

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

I Never Had A Policy; I Have Just Tried To Do My Very Best Each And Every Day.

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 Have Never Had A Feeling, Politically, That Did Not Spring From The Declaration Of Independence That All Should Have An Equal Chance. This Is The Sentiment Embodied In The Declaration Of Independence, I Would Rather Be Assassinated On This Spot Than Surrender It.

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

When I Got Him Out He Was Near Froze Solid And Shivering. He Was Shaking So Hard That I Wasted Half A Glass Of Whiskey Trying To Aim It For His Mouth. Must Have Got Enough Of It Into Him, Though, Since It Did Seem To Bring Him Back To Life.

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.

Do Not Destroy That Immortal Emblem Of Humanity, The Declaration Of Independence.

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

Labor Is The True Standard Of Value.

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

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

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.

Never Let Your Correspondence Fall Behind.

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

Democracies Have

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

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

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

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.

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

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

I Am Not An Accomplished Lawyer.

Avoid Popularity If You Would Have Peace.

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

Accounts Of Outrages Committed By Mobs Form The Every-day News Of The Times. They Have Pervaded The Country From New England To Louisiana, They Are Neither Peculiar To The Eternal Snows Of The Former Nor The Burning Suns Of The Latter; They Are Not The Creature Of Climate, Neither Are They Confined To The Slaveholding Or The Non-slaveholding States. Alike They Spring Up Among The Pleasure-hunting Masters Of Southern Slaves, And The Order-loving Citizens Of The Land Of Steady Habits. Whatever Then Their Cause May Be, It Is Common To The Whole Country.

But, Slavery Is Good For Some People! ! ! As A Good Thing, Slavery Is Strikingly Peculiar, In This, That It Is The Only Good Thing Which No Man Ever Seeks The Good Of, For Himself.

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

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.

We Shall Yet Acknowledge His Wisdom And Our Own Error Therein.

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.

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.

In A Certain Sense, And To A Certain Extent, He [the President] Is The Representative Of The People. He Is Elected By Them, As Well As Congress Is. But Can He, In The Nature [of] Things, Know The Wants Of The People, As Well As Three Hundred Other Men, Coming From All The Various Localities Of The Nation? If So, Where Is The Propriety Of Having A Congress?

Determine That The Thing Can And Shall Be Done And Then... Find The Way.

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.

I Am Approached With The Most Opposite Opinions And Advice, And That By Religious Men, Who Are Equally Certain That They Represent The Divine Will. I Am Sure That Either The One Or The Other Class Is Mistaken In That Belief, And Perhaps In Some Respects Both.

You Are Young, And I Am Older; You Are Hopeful, I Am Not- Enjoy Life, Ere It Grow Colder- Pluck The Roses Ere They Rot.

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

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.

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.

Shall We Stop This Bleeding?

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

It Is Difficult To Make A Man Miserable While He Feels Worthy Of Himself And Claims Kindred To The Great God Who Made Him.

I Appeal To All Loyal Citizens To Favor, Facilitate And Aid This Effort To Maintain The Honor, The Integrity, And The Existence Of Our National Union, And The Perpetuity Of Popular Government; And To Redress Wrongs Already Long Enough Endured.

If The Negro Is A Man, Why Then My Ancient Faith Teaches Me That ‘all Men Are Created Equal,' And That There Can Be No Moral Right In Connection With One Man's Making A Slave Of Another.

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.

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

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."

I Am Not A Very Sentimental Man; And The Best Sentiment I Can Think Of Is, That If You Collect The Signatures Of All Persons Who Are No Less Distinguished Than I, You Will Have A Very Undistinguishing Mass Of Names.

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

Everybody Likes Compliment.

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

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

I Hold The Value Of Life Is To Improve One's Condition. Whatever Is Calculated To Advance The Condition Of The Honest, Struggling Laboring Man, So Far As My Judgment Will Enable Me To Judge Of A Correct Thing, I Am For That Thing.

I Can Make A General In Five Minutes But A Good Horse Is Hard To Replace.

...i Am Exceedingly Anxious That This Union, The Constitution, And The Liberties Of The People Shall Be Perpetuated In Accordance With The Original Idea For Which That Struggle Was Made, And I Shall Be Most Happy Indeed If I Shall Be An Humble Instrument In The Hands Of The Almighty, And Of This, His Almost Chosen People, For Perpetuating The Object Of That Great Struggle.

If All Men Were Just, There Still Would Be Some, Though Not So Much, Need Of Government.

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.

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

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

The World Has Never Had A Good Definition Of The Word Liberty, And The American People, Just Now, Are Much In Want Of One. We All Declare For Liberty; But In Using The Same Word We Do Not All Mean The Same Thing.

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

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.

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

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

We All Declare For Liberty, But In Using The Same Word We Do Not All Mean The Same Thing.

When I Am Getting Ready To Reason With A Man, I Spend One-third Of My Time Thinking About Myself And What I Am Going To Say And Two-thirds About Him And What He Is Going To Say.

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

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

Let Us Strive On To Finish The Work We Are In.

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

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

Democracies Have

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

All Things Desirable To Men Are Contained In The Bible.

If There Is A Worse Place Than Hell, I Am In It.

And You Are Entirely Free From Head-ache? That Is Good -- Good -- Considering It Is The First Spring You Have Been Free From It Since We Were Acquainted. I Am Afraid You Will Get So Well, And Fat, And Young, As To Be Wanting To Marry Again.

We Shall Sooner Have The Fowl By Hatching The Egg Than By Smashing It.

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