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

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

Understanding the Quote: "the worst thing you can do for those you love is the..."

This quote by Abraham Lincoln reflects deeply on the theme of love. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Love, Should, Worst, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Abraham Lincoln interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is celebrated for insightful thoughts on love and should. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Love
Should
Worst
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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.
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It Is Your Business To Rise Up And Preserve The Union And Liberty, For Yourselves, And Not For Me. I Desire They Shall Be Constitutionally Preserved.
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Everybody Likes A Compliment.
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We Trust, Sir, That God Is On Our Side. It Is More Important To Know That We Are On God's Side.
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I Sincerely Wish War Was A Pleasanter And Easier Business Than It Is, But It Does Not Admit Of Holidays.
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He Will Have To Learn, I Know, That All People Are Not Just- That All Men And Women Are Not True. Teach Him That For Every Scoundrel There Is A Hero That For Every Enemy There Is A Friend. Let Him Learn Early That The Bullies Are The Easiest People To Lick.
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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.
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Let None Falter Who Thinks He Is Right, And We May Succeed. But If, After All, We Shall Fail, Be It So: We Still Shall Have The Proud Consolation Of Saying To Our Consciences, And To The Departed Shade Of Our Country's Freedom, That The Cause Approved Of Our Judgment And Adored Of Our Hearts, In Disaster, In Chains, In Torture, In Death, We Never Faltered In Defending.
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You Can Not Fail In Any Laudable Object, Unless You Allow Your Mind To Be Improperly Directed.
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You Know I Dislike Slavery; And You Fully Admit The Abstract Wrong Of It.
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The Only Person Who Is A Worse Liar Than A Faith Healer Is His Patient.
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Freedom Is The Last, Best Hope Of Earth.
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I Must Keep Some Standard Of Principle Fixed Within Myself.
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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.
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You Must Remember That Some Things Legally Right Are Not Morally Right.
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The Evacuation Of Petersburg And Richmond, And The Surrender Of The Principal Insurgent Army, Give Hope Of A Righteous And Speedy Peace Whose Joyous Expression Can Not Be Restrained. In The Midst Of This, However, He, From Whom All Blessings Flow, Must Not Be Forgotten. A Call For A National Thanksgiving Is Being Prepared, And Will Be Duly Promulgated.
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[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.
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Your Organization Will Take On The Personality Of Its Top Leaders
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I Do Not Boast That God Is On My Side, I Humbly Pray That I Am On God's Side.
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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.
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If I Have One Vice And I Can Call It Nothing Else It Is Not Able To Say 'no'.
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[if Not Re-elected In 1864] Then It Will Be My Duty To So Co-operate With The President Elect, As To Save The Union Between The Election And The Inauguration; As He Will Have Secured His Election On Such Ground That He Can Not Possibly Save It Afterwards.
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When I Came Of Age I Did Not Know Much. Still Somehow, I Could Read, Write, And Cipher To The Rule Of Three.... The Little Advancei Now Have Upon This Store Of Education, I Have Picked Up From Time To Time Under The Pressure Of Necessity.
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I Always [or "often"] Walk Slowly, But I Never Walk Backwards.
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Senator [stephen] Douglas Is Of World-wide Renown. All The Anxious Politicians Of His Party, Or Who Have Been Of His Party For Years Past, Have Been Looking Upon Him As Certainly, At No Distant Day, To Be The President Of The United States. They Have Seen In His Round, Jolly, Fruitful Face, Post Offices, Land Offices, Marshalships, And Cabinet Appointments, Chargeships And Foreign Missions, Bursting And Sprouting Out In Wonderful Exuberance Ready To Be Laid Hold Of By Their Greedy Hands.
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You May Burn My Body To Ashes, And Scatter Them To The Winds Of Heaven; You May Drag My Soul Down To The Regions Of Darkness And Despair To Be Tormented Forever; But You Will Never Get Me To Support A Measure Which I Believe To Be Wrong, Although By Doing So I May Accomplish That Which I Believe To Be Right.
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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.
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While The People Retain Their Virtue And Vigilance, No Administration, By Any Extreme Of Wickedness Or Folly, Can Very Seriously Injure The Government In The Short Space Of Four Years.
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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.
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Whatever уоu Are, Bе а Good One.
The Provision Of The Constitution Giving The War Making Power To Congress Was Dictated, As I Understand It, By The Following Reasons: 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. This Our Convention Understood To Be The Most Oppressive Of All Kingly Oppressions, And They Resolved To So Frame The Constitution That No Man Should Hold The Power Of Bringing This Oppression Upon Us.
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Without The Constitution And The Union, We Could Not Have Attained The Result; But Even These, Are Not The Primary Cause Of Our Great Prosperity. There Is Something Back Of These, Entwining Itself More Closely About The Human Heart. That Something, Is The Principle Of "liberty To All" The Principle That Clears The Path For All-gives Hope To All-and, By Consequence, Enterprize [sic], And Industry To All.
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Anybody Will Do For You, But Not For Me.
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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.
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I Want In All Cases To Do Right.
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Be Sure You Put Your Feet In The Right Place, Then Stand Firm.
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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. But We Have Forgotten God. We Have Forgotten The Gracious Hand Which Preserved Us In Peace, And Multiplied And Enriched And Strengthened Us; And We Have Vainly Imagined, In The Deceitfulness Of Our Hearts, That All These Blessings Were Produced By Some Superior Wisdom And Virtue Of Our Own. 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!
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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.
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I Repeat The Declaration Made A Year Ago, That 'while I Remain In My Present Position I Shall Not Attempt To Retract Or Modify The Emancipation Proclamation, Nor Shall I Return To Slavery Any Person Who Is Free By The Terms Of That Proclamation, Or By Any Of The Acts Of Congress.' If The People Should, By Whatever Mode Or Means, Make It An Executive Duty To Re-enslave Such Persons, Another, And Not I, Must Be Their Instrument To Perform It.
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No Policy That Does Not Rest Upon Some Philosophical Public Opinion Can Be Permanently Maintained.
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The Cause Of Civil Liberty Must Not Be Surrendered At The End Of One, Or Even One Hundred Defeats.
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One Generation Passeth Away And Another Generation Cometh, But The Earth Abideth Forever.
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A Husband And Wife May Be Divorced And Go Out Of The Presence And Beyond The Reach Of Each Other, But The Different Parts Of Our Country Can Not Do This. They Can But Remain Face To Face, And Intercourse, Either Amicable Or Hostile, Must Continue Between Them.
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God Bless The Methodist Church - Bless All The Churches - And Blessed Be God, Who, In This Our Great Trial, Giveth Us The Churches.
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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.
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People Are Just As Happy As They Choose To Be.
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Nearly All Men Can Stand Adversity, But If You Want To Test A Man's Character, Give Him Power.
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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.
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Faith Is Not Believing That God Can, But That God Will.
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And By Virtue Of The Power, And For The Purpose Aforesaid, I Do Order And Declare That All Persons Held As Slaves Within Said Designated States, And Parts Of States, Are, And Henceforward Shall Be Free; And That The Executive Government Of The United States, Including The Military And Naval Authorities Thereof, Will Recognize And Maintain The Freedom Of Said Persons.
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We Can Succeed Only By Concert. It Is Not 'can Any Of Us Imagine Better?, But 'can We All Do Better?
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With The Catching Ends The Pleasure Of The Chase.
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I Am A Firm Believer In The People. If Given The Truth, They Can Be Depended Upon To Meet Any National Crisis. The Great Point Is To Bring Them The Real Facts.
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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.
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I Expect To Maintain This Contest Until Successful, Or Till I Die, Or Am Conquered, Or My Term Expires, Or Congress Or The Country Forsakes Me.
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Let Us Strive On To Finish The Work We Are In.
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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.
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Must I Shoot A Simple-minded Soldier Boy Who Deserts, While I Must Not Touch A Hair Of The Wily Agitator Who Induces Him To Desert? I Think That In Such A Cse To Silence The Agitator And Save The Boy Is Not Only Constitutional But Withal A Great Mercy.
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I Hear You Have Abolitionists Here. We Have A Few In Illinois, But We Shot One The Other Day.
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He Who Does Something At The Head Of One Regiment, Will Eclipse Him Who Does Nothing At The Head Of A Hundred.
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I Shall Not Do More Than I Can, And I Shall Do All I Can To Save The Government, Which Is My Sworn Duty As Well As My Personal Inclination. I Shall Do Nothing In Malice. What I Deal With Is Too Vast For Malicious Dealing.
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The Demon Of Intemperance Ever Seems To Have Delighted In Sucking The Blood Of Genius And Of Generosity.
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Extemporaneous Speaking Should Be Practised And Cultivated. It Is The Lawyer's Avenue To The Public.
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Both Read The Same Bible And Pray To The Same God, And Each Invokes His Aid Against The Other.
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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.
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What Has Ever Threatened Our Liberty And Prosperity Save And Except This Institution Of Slavery?
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The President Responded Very Impressively, Saying That He Was Deeply Sensible Of His Need Of Divine Assistance. He Had Sometime Thought That Perhaps He Might Be An Instrument In God's Hands Of Accomplishing A Great Work And He Certainly Was Not Unwilling To Be. Perhaps, However, God's Way Of Accomplishing The End Which The Memorialists Have In View May Be Different From Theirs.
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In The Early Days Of The World, The Almighty Said To The First Of Our Race "in The Sweat Of Thy Face Shalt Thou Eat Bread"; And Since Then, If We Except The Light And The Air Of Heaven, No Good Thing Has Been, Or Can Be Enjoyed By Us, Without Having First Cost Labour.
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You Can’t Make A Weak Man Strong By Making A Strong Man Weak
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Legislation And Adjudication Must Follow, And Conform To, The Progress Of Society.
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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'.
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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.
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A Prohibition Law Strikes A Blow At The Very Principles Upon Which Our Government Was Founded.
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When Met With A Problem I Always Ask Myself What Is The Right Thing To Do And Then I Do It.
Problem
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Don't Be Fooled. I Kept All My Workout Clothes In That Top Hat.
Fitness
Workout
Clothes
Money Powers Prey Upon The Nation In Times Of Peace & Conspire Against It In Times Of Adversity.
Adversity
Bankers
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Man Is Not The Only Animal Who Labors; But He Is The Only One Who Improves His Workmanship.
Animal
Men
Workmanship
A Tendancy To Melancholy...let It Be Observed, Is A Misfortune, Not A Fault.
Faults
Melancholy
Misfortunes
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Political
Trade
In The End, It's Not The Years In Your Life That Count. It's The Life In Your Years.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
The Best Way To Destroy An Enemy Is To Make Him A Friend.
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Vivid
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Business
Fighting
Men
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Love
Men
Justice
I Affect No Contempt For The High Eminence He [senator Stephen Douglas] Has Reached. So Reached, That The Oppressed Of My Species,might Have Shared With Me In The Elevation, I Would Rather Stand On That Eminence, Than Wear The Richest Crown That Ever Pressed A Monarch's Brow.
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Honor Is Better Than Honors.
Business
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If They Do Kill Me, I Shall Never Die Another Death.
Death
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Dies
I Am For Those Means Which Will Give The Greatest Good To The Greatest Number.
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On The Whole, My Impression Is That Mercy Bears Richer Fruits Than Any Other Attribute.
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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.
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I Am Glad To See That A System Of Labor Prevails Under Which Laborers Can Strike When They Want To.
Presidential
Want
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Patriotic
Government
Familiarize Yourselves With The Chains Of Bondage And You Prepare Your Own Limbs To Wear Them. Accustomed To Trample On The Rights Of Others, You Have Lost The Genius Of Your Own Independence And Become The Fit Subjects Of The First Cunning Tyrant Who Rises Among You.
Rights
Tyrants
Justice
Every Person Is Responsible For His Own Looks After 40.
Looks
Appearance
Responsible
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.
Men
Thinking
Slavery
The Government Will Support You To The Utmost Of Its Ability, Which Is Neither More Nor Less Than It Has Done And Will Do For Allcommanders.
Support You
Government
Done
I Turn, Then, And Look To The American People And To That God Who Has Never Forsaken Them.
Religious
People
Looks
If You Would Win A Man To Your Cause, First Convince Him That You Are His Sincere Friend.
Motivational
Friendship
Best Friend
This Human Struggle And Scramble For Office, For A Way To Live Without Work, Will Finally Test The Strength Of Our Institutions.
Struggle
Office
Way To Live
Among Free Men There Can Be No Successful Appeal From The Ballot To The Bullet.
Successful
Men
Voting
We Know, Southern Men Declare That Their Slaves Are Better Off Than Hired Laborers Amongst Us. How Little They Know, Whereof They Speak! There Is No Permanent Class Of Hired Laborers Amongst Us. Twenty-five Years Ago, I Was A Hired Laborer. The Hired Laborer Of Yesterday, Labors On His Own Account Today; And Will Hire Others To Labor For Him Tomorrow.
Men
Years
Class
This Nation Under God
Bible
God
Religious
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.
Art
War
America
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.
Truth
Lying
Believe
My Paramount Objective In This Struggle Is To Save The Union, And Is Not To Either Save Or Destroy Slavery.
War
Struggle
Slavery
Doubtless You Begin To Understand How Disagreeable It Is To Me To Do A Thing Arbitrarily, When It Is Unsatisfactory To Others Associated With Me.
Arbitration
Disagreeable
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.
People
Matter
Individual
I Can Make More Generals, But Horses Cost Money.
Money
Horse
War
We Are Not Enemies, But Friends. We Must Not Be Enemies. Though Passion May Have Strained, It Must Not Break Our Bonds Of Affection. The Mystic Chords Of Memory Will Swell When Again Touched, As Surely They Will Be, By The Better Angels Of Our Nature.
Life
Friendship
Memories
Don't Worry When You Are Not Recognized, But Strive To Be Worthy Of Recognition.
Inspirational
Motivational
Positive
Everyone Likes A Good Quote - Don't Forget To Share.
God
Likes
Forget
I Believe, If We Take Habitual Drunkards As A Class, Their Heads And Their Hearts Will Bear An Advantageous Comparison With Those Of Any Other Class. There Seems Ever To Have Been A Proneness In The Brilliant And Warm-blooded To Fall Into This Vice.
Believe
Fall
Drinking
When I Left Springfield [to Become President] I Asked The People To Pray For Me. I Was Not A Christian. When I Buried My Son, The Severest Trial Of My Life, I Was Not A Christian. But When I Went To Gettysburg And Saw The Graves Of Thousands Of Our Soldiers, I Then And There Consecrated Myself To Christ.
Christian
Son
People
I Am Now The Most Miserable Man Living. If What I Feel Were Felt By The Whole Human Race, There Would Not Be One Cheerful Face Left On Earth.
Depression
Men
Race
I Could Not Sleep When I Got On The Hunt For An Idea, Until I Had Caught It. This Was A Kind Of Passion With Me, And It Has Stuck With Me.
Passion
Sleep
Ideas
We Should Avoid Planting And Cultivating Too Many Thorns In The Bosom Of Society.
Thorns
Should
Bosoms
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.
Strong
Freedom
Men
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.
Believe
Wish
Politics
Discourage Litigation. Persuade Your Neighbors To Compromise Whenever You Can.
Neighbors And Friends
Neighbors Friends
Lawyer
No Man Who Is Resolved To Make The Most Of Himself Can Spare Time For Personal Contention, Still Less Can He Afford To Take The Consequences, Including The Vitiation Of His Temper And The Loss Of Self Control, Yield To Larger Things To Which You Show No More Than Equal Rights, And Yield To Lesser Ones Though Clearly Your Own, Better Give Your Path To A Dog, Than Be Bitten By Him In Contesting For The Right, Not Even Killing The Dog, Will Cure The Bite
Dog
Time
Loss
What Is Conservatism? Is It Not The Adherence To The Old And Tried Against The New And Untried?
Success
Political
Politics
We Meet This Evening, Not In Sorrow, But In Gladness Of Heart.
Heart
Sorrow
Evening
Committee: A Group Which Succeeds In Getting Something Done Only When It Consists Of Three Members, One Of Whom Happens To Be Sick And Another Absent.
Sick
Succeed
Groups
We Know Nothing Of What Will Happen In Future, But By The Analogy Of Experience.
War
Future
Drug
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.
Children
Father
Parenting
You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!
A Man Has Not The Time To Spend Half His Life In Quarrels. If Any Man Ceases To Attack Me, I Never Remember The Past Against Him.
Past
Men
Half
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.
Rights
Government
People
I Was Elected A Captain Of Volunteers--a Success Which Gave Me More Pleasure Than Any I Have Had Since.
Volunteer
Captains
Pleasure
Those Who Are Ready To Sacrifice Freedom For Security Ultimately Will Lose Both.
Sacrifice
Progressive
Ready
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.
Girl
Fool
Made
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.
Hate
Believe
Thinking
And Whereas It Is The Duty Of Nations As Well As Of Men, To Own Their Dependence Upon The Overruling Power Of God ... And To Recognize The Sublime Truth, Announced In The Holy Scriptures And Proven By All History, That Those Nations Only Are Blessed Whose God Is The Lord.
Bible
God
Religious
Teach The Children So It Will Not Be Necessary To Teach The Adults.
Inspirational
Teacher
Children
Were It Not For My Little Jokes, I Could Not Bear The Burdens Of This Office.
Humor
Office
Littles
I Was Born And Have Ever Remaind [sic] In The Most Humble Walks Of Life.
Humility
Humble
Born
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.
War
People
Sides
As We Keep Or Break The Sabbath Day We Nobly Save Or Meanly Lose The Last Best Hope By Which Man Rises.
Men
Lasts
Break
Without Slavery The Rebellion Could Never Have Existed; Without Slavery It Could Not Continue.
Civil War
Slavery
Rebellion
No Client Ever Had Money Enough To Bribe My Conscience Or To Stop Its Utterance Against Wrong, And Oppression.
Utterance
Clients
Oppression
Without Divine Assistance I Can Not Succeed; With It I Can Not Fail.
Spiritual
Succeed
Failing
The Best Way To Get Rid Of Your Enemies Is To Make Them Your Friends.
Enemy
Way
Best Way
Money Will Cease To Be Master And Become The Servant Of Humanity. Democracy Will Rise Superior To The Money Power.
Humanity
Democracy
Money Power
The Strongest Bond Of Human Sympathy Outside The Family Relation Should Be One Uniting Working People Of All Nations And Tongues And Kindreds.
Sympathy
Peace
People
As A Nation, We Began By Declaring That 'all Men Are Created Equal.' We Now Practically Read It 'all Men Are Created Equal, Except Negroes.' When The Know-nothings Get Control, It Will Read 'all Men Are Created Equal, Except Negroes, And Foreigners, And Catholics.' When It Comes To This I Should Prefer Emigrating To Some Country Where They Make No Pretense Of Loving Liberty – To Russia, For Instance, Where Despotism Can Be Taken Pure, And Without The Base Alloy Of Hypocrisy.
Country
Freedom
Taken
Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.
Needs
Unjust
May
All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.
America
Presidential
Unions
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.
Slavery
Soil
Compromise
So You're The Little Woman Who Wrote The Book That Made This Great War!
War
Women
Book
Military Glory-that Attractive Rainbow, That Rises In Showers Of Blood-that Serpent's Eye, That Charms To Destroy.
Peace
Military
War
The One Victory We Can Ever Call Complete Will Be That One Which Proclaims That There Is Not One Slave Or One Drunkard On The Face Of God's Green Earth.
Victory
Earth
Green
It Is Not Our Frowning Battlements...or The Strength Our Gallant And Disciplined Army? These Are Not Our Reliance Against A Resumption Of Tyranny In Our Fair Land... Our Defense Is In The Preservation Of The Spirit Which Prizes Liberty As The Heritage Of All Men, In All Lands, Everywhere.
Army
Men
Land
My Politics Are Short And Sweet, Like The Old Woman's Dance.
Sweet
Politics
Short And Sweet
There May Sometimes Be Ungenerous Attempts To Keep A Young Man Down; And They Will Succeed Too, If He Allows His Mind To Be Diverted From Its True Channel To Brood Over The Attempted Injury. Cast About, And See If This Feeling Has Not Injured Every Person You Have Ever Known To Fall Into It.
Fall
Men
Feelings
I Am Not An Accomplished Lawyer.
Lawyer
Accomplished
Commitment Is What Transforms A Promise Into Reality.
Commitment
Reality
Promise
The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice
Choices
Enjoy
That Our Government Should Have Been Maintained In Its Original Form From Its Establishment Until Now, Is Not Much To Be Wondered At. It Had Many Props To Support It Through That Period, Which Now Are Decayed, And Crumbled Away. Through That Period, It Was Felt By All, To Be An Undecided Experiment; Now, It Is Understood To Be A Successful One.
Successful
Government
Should Have
Whether You Look For The Good Or Look For The Bad In A Person, You'll Find It." A. Lincoln
Looks
Persons
The Bible Says Somewhere That We Are Desperately Selfish. I Think We Would Have Discovered That Fact Without The Bible.
Religious
Selfish
Thinking
The Dogmas Of The Quiet Past Are Inadequate To The Stormy Present.
Change
Past
Space
Few Can Be Induced To Labor Exclusively For Posterity - Posterity Has Done Nothing For Us
Done
Labor
Posterity
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.
Bible
God
Religious
Every Man Is Born An Original, But Sadly, Most Men Die Copies.
Men
Born
Copies
If Both Factions, Or Neither, Shall Abuse You, You Will Probably Be About Right. Beware Of Being Assailed By One And Praised By The Other.
Abuse
Factions
Ifs
God Must Love The Common Man, He Made So Many Of Them.
Love
God
Men
Hold On With A Bulldog Grip, And Chew And Choke As Much As Possible.
Bulldogs
Holding On
Choke
Labor Is The Superior Of Capital, And Deserves Much The Higher Consideration
Independent Women
Dignity Of Work
Labor Day
It Is Rather For Us Here Dedicated To The Great Task Remaining Before Us, That From These Honored Dead We Take Increased Devotion To That Cause For Which They Gave The Last Full Measure Of Devotion.
Civil War
Tasks
Lasts
Avoid Popularity If You Would Have Peace.
Peace
Humor
Vaccines
You Cannot Help The Poor By Destroying The Rich. You Cannot Lift The Wage Earner By Pulling Down The Wage Payer.
Libertarian Party
Liberty
Politics
Nations Do Not Die From Invasion; They Die From Internal Rottenness.
Invasion
Internals
Dies
In This Sad World Of Ours, Sorrow Comes To All, And It Comes With Bitter Agony. Perfect Relief Is Not Possible, Except With The Passing Of Time.
Sympathy
Agony
Perfect
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.
Religious
Ideas
People
With High Hope For The Future, No Prediction Is Ventured.
Hope
Predictions
Hope For The Future
Honest Statesmanship Is The Wise Employment Of Individual Meanness For The Public Good.
Wise
Employment
Politics
I Am A Little Uneasy About The Abolishment Of Slavery In This District Of Columbia.
War
Slavery
Littles
Cortissoz Was Art Critic Of The New York Herald Tribune.
Art
New York
Critics
I Am Now The Most Miserable Man Living. If What I Feel Equally Distributed To The Whole Human Family, There Would Not Be One Cheerful Face On The Earth. Whether I Shall Ever Be Better, I Cannot Tell; I Awfully Forebode I Shall Not. To Remain As I Am Is Impossible. I Must Die Or Be Better, It Appears To Me.
Depression
Men
Cheerful
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.
Angel
Not Caring
Differences
Prosperity Is The Fruit Of Labor. It Begins With Saving Money.
Saving
Fruit
Prosperity
War, At The Best, Is Terrible, And This War Of Ours, In Its Magnitude And In Its Duration, Is One Of The Most Terrible.
War
Duration
Terrible
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.
Happiness
Procrastination
Men
The Available Supply Of Gold And Silver Being Wholly Inadequate To Permit The Issuance Of Coins Of Intrinsic Value Or Paper Currency Convertible Into Coin Of Intrinsic Value Or Paper Currency Convertible Into Coin In The Volume Required To Serve The Needs Of The People, Some Other Basis For The Issue Of Currency Must Be Developed, And Some Means Other Than That Of Convertibility Into Coin Must Be Developed To Prevent Undue Fluctuation In The Value Of Paper Currency Or Any Other Substitute For Money Intrinsic Value That May Come Into Use.
Mean
Issues
People
Twenty-two Years Ago Judge [then-senator Stephen] Douglas And I First Became Acquainted. We Were Both Young Then; He A Trifle Younger Than I. Even Then, We Were Both Ambitious; I, Perhaps, Quite As Much So As He. With Me, The Race Of Ambition Has Been A Failure--a Flat Failure; With Him It Has Been One Of Splendid Success.
Ambition
Two
Race
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.
War
Way
Ifs
Love Is The Chain Whereby To Bind A Child To Its Parents.
Family
Children
Parenting
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?
Life
People
Justice
I Do Not Doubt That Our Country Will Finally Come Through Safe And Undivided. But Do Not Misunderstand Me... I Do Not Rely On The Patriotism Of Our People... The Bravery And Devotion Of The Boys In Blue... (or) The Loyalty And Skill Of Our Generals... But The God Of Our Fathers, Who Raised Up This Country To Be The Refuge And Asylum Of The Oppressed And Downtrodden Of All Nations, Will Not Let It Perish Now. I May Not Live To See It... I Do Not Expect To See It, But God Will Bring Us Through Safe.
Loyalty
Country
Father
I See In The Near Future A Crisis Approaching That Unnerves Me And Causes Me To Tremble For The Safety Of My Country.
Country
Safety
Rothschild
You Have Confidence In Yourself, Which Is Valuable, If Not An Indispensable Quality.
Quality
Valuable
Indispensable
And Then, There Will Be Some Black Men Who Can Remember That, With Silent Tongue, And Clenched Teeth, And Steady Eye, And Well-poised Bayonnet, They Have Helped Mankind On To This Great Consummation.
War
Eye
Men
Lonely Men Seek Companionship. Lonely Women Sit At Home And Wait. They Never Meet.
Lonely
Home
Men
I Will Do What I Think Is Right And When I Discover That It Is Wrong, I Will Change It.
Thinking
The Blessing Always Comes Back To The Door Of The Author.
Blessing
Doors
The Severest Justice May Not Always Be The Best Policy
Justice
May
Prison
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