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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...

-Abraham Lincoln

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Upon The Subject Of

Abraham Lincoln

...

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...

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More From Abraham Lincoln

The Lord Spared The Fitten And The Rest He Seen Fitten To Die.

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

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

I Claim Not To Have Controlled Events, But Confess Plainly That Events Have Controlled Me.

Free Labor Has The Inspiration Of Hope; Pure Slavery Has No Hope.

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

...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.

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

The People Know Their Rights, And They Are Never Slow To Assert And Maintain Them, When They Are Invaded.

The Strength Of A Nation Lies In The Homes Of Its People.

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

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

Whenever There Is A Conflict Between Human Rights And Property Rights, Human Rights Must Prevail.

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.

I Care Not Much For A Man's Religion Whose Dog And Cat Are Not The Better For It.

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

Words Of Wisdom

I Remember My Mother's Prayers And They Have Always Followed Me. They Have Clung To Me All My Life.

I Hold That If The Almighty Had Ever Made A Set Of Men That Should Do All The Eating And None Of The Work, He Would Have Made Them With Mouths Only And No Hands, And If He Had Ever Made Another Class That He Intended Should Do All The Work And None Of The Eating, He Would Have Made Them Without Mouths And With All Hands.

I Understand That It Is A Maxim Of Law, That A Poor Plea May Be A Good Plea To A Bad Declaration.

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.

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.

The Health You Enjoy Is Largely Your Choice

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.

I Wish To See, In Process Of Disappearing, That Only Thing Which Ever Could Bring This Nation To Civil War.

I Cannot Imagine Anyone Looking At The Sky And Denying God.

Nothing Will Divert Me From My Purpose.

Government, Possessing The Power To Create And Issue Currency And Credit As Money And Enjoying The Right To Withdraw Both Currency And Credit From Circulation By Taxation And Otherwise, Need Not And Should Not Borrow Capital At Interest As A Means Of Financing Government Work And Public Enterprises.

Nothing Is Stronger Than Gentleness.

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

Washington's Is The Mightiest Name Of Earth - Long Since Mightiest In The Cause Of Civil Liberty; Still Mightiest In Moral Reformation. On That Name No Eulogy Is Expected. It Cannot Be. To Add Brightness To The Sun, Or Glory To The Name Of Washington, Is Alike Impossible. Let None Attempt It. In Solemn Awe Pronounce The Name, And In Its Naked Deathless Splendor Leave It Shining On.

The Love Of Property And Consciousness Of Right And Wrong Have Conflicting Places In Our Organization, Which Often Makes A Man's Course Seem Crooked, His Conduct A Riddle.

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

Too Many Piglets Not Enough Tits.

Tangible Language, Which Often Tells More Falsehoods Than Truths.

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

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.

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

We Must Believe That He Permits It [this War] For Some Wise Purpose Of His Own, Mysterious And Unknown To Us; And Though With Ourlimited Understandings We May Not Be Able To Comprehend It, Yet We Cannot But Believe, That He Who Made The World Still Governs It.

There Is No America Without Labor, And To Fleece The One Is To Rob The Other.

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

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

Never Change Horses In Midstream.

Can Treaties Be More Faithfully Enforced Between Aliens Than Laws Can Among Friends? Suppose You Go To War, You Cannot Fight Always; And When, After Much Loss On Both Sides, And No Gain On Either, You Cease Fighting, The Identical Old Questions As To Terms Of Intercourse Are Again Upon You.

There Is A Vague Popular Belief That Lawyers Are Necessarily Dishonest. I Say Vague, Because When We Consider To What Extent Confidence And Honors Are Reposed In And Conferred Upon Lawyers By The People, It Appears Improbable That Their Impression Of Dishonesty Is Very Distinct And Vivid. Yet The Impression Is Common, Almost Universal.

Great Men Are Ordinary Men With Extra Ordinary Determination.

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.

Labor Is The True Standard Of Value.

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

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.

You Can Not Fail In Any Laudable Object, Unless You Allow Your Mind To Be Improperly Directed.

He Has Got The Slows, Mr. Blair.

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

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.

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

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].

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.

Let Us Renew Our Trust In God, And Go Forward Without Fear.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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."

Now, At The End Of Three Years Struggle The Nation's Condition Is Not What Either Party, Or Any Man Devised, Or Expected. God Alone Can Claim It.

I Have No Wealthy Or Popular Relations To Recommend Me.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

We Cannot But Believe That He Who Made The World Still Governs It.

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

But For That Book, We Could Not Know Right From Wrong.

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.

The Good Old Maxims Of The Bible Are Applicable, And Truly Applicable To Human Affairs, And In This As In Other Things, We May Say Here That He Who Is Not For Us Is Against Us; He Would Gathereth Not With Us Scattereth.

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

Honor To The Soldier And Sailor Everywhere, Who Bravely Bears His Country's Cause. Honor, Also, To The Citizen Who Cares For His Brother In The Field And Serves, As He Best Can, The Same Cause.

Be Not Deceived. Revolutions Do Not Go Backward.

Rules For Radicals

Don't Worry When You Are Not Recognized, But Strive To Be Worthy Of Recognition.

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

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.

When I Lay Down The Reins Of This Administration, I Want To Have One Friend Left. And That Friend Is Myself.

I Have Always Believed That A Good Laugh Was Good For Both The Mental And Physical Digestion.

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

Neighbors And Friends

Neighbors Friends

The Privilege Of Creating And Issuing Money Is Not Only The Supreme Prerogative Of Government, But It Is The Government's Greatest Creative Opportunity.

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

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

Achievement Has No Color

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

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

Nobody Has Ever Expected Me To Be President. In My Poor, Lean, Lank Face, Nobody Has Ever Seen That Any Cabbages Were Sprouting Out.

Persuasion, Kind, Unassuming Persuasion, Should Be Adopted To Influence The Conduct Of Men. The Opposite Course Would Be A Reversal Of Human Nature, Which Is God's Decree And Can Never Be Reversed.

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

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

I Pray That Our Heavenly Father May Assuage The Anguish Of Your Bereavement, And Leave You Only The Cherished Memory Of The Loved And Lost, And The Solemn Pride That Must Be Yours, To Have Laid So Costly A Sacrifice Upon The Altar Of Freedom.

Don't Judge A Man By The Size Of His Ego Or His Heart, But On The Epicness Of His Beard And The Beautiful Woman On His Arm

Were It Not For My Little Jokes, I Could Not Bear The Burdens Of This Office.

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

I Believe The Bible Is The Best Gift God Has Ever Given To Man.

Public Sentiment Is Everything. With Public Sentiment, Nothing Can Fail. Without It, Nothing Can Succeed.

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

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

Independent Women

Dignity Of Work

Human-nature Will Not Change.

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.

We Can Not Have Free Government Without Elections; And If The Rebellion Could Force Us To Forego, Or Postpone A National Election It Might Fairly Claim To Have Already Conquered And Ruined Us.

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

In The End, It's Not The Years In Your Life That Count. It's The Life In Your Years.

Honor Is Better Than Honors.

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.

Offering Thanks In The Midst Of Tragedy Is An American Tradition, . Even During A Bloody Civil War.

If You Wish To Be A Lawyer, Attach No Consequence To The Place You Are In, Or The Person You Are With; But Get Books, Sit Down Anywhere, And Go To Reading For Yourself. That Will Make A Lawyer Of You Quicker Than Any Other Way.

With Malice Toward None, With Charity For All, With Firmness In The Right, As God Gives Us To See The Right, Let Us Strive On To Finish The Work We Are In, To Bind Up The Nation's Wounds.

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

The Very Spot Where Grew The Bread That Formed My Bones, I See. How Strange, Old Field, On Thee To Tread, And Feel I'm Part Of Thee.

Two Of My Favorite Things Are Sitting On My Front Porch Smoking A Pipe Of Sweet Hemp, And Playing My Hohner Harmonica.

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

My Best Friend Is A Person Who Will Give Me A Book I Have Not Read.

Received As I Am By The Members Of A Legislature The Majority Of Whom Do Not Agree With Me In Political Sentiments, I Trust That I May Have Their Assistance In Piloting The Ship Of State Through This Voyage, Surrounded By Perils As It Is; For If It Should Suffer Wreck Now, There Will Be No Pilot Ever Needed For Another Voyage.

It Is Easiest To "be All Things To All Men," But It Is Not Honest. Self-respect Must Be Sacrificed Every Hour In The Day.

Hours In The Day

Behind The Cloud The Sun Is Still Shining.

All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America.

Now, I Confess Myself As Belonging To That Class In The Country Who Contemplate Slavery As A Moral, Social And Political Evil, Having Due Regard For Its Actual Existence Amongst Us And The Difficulties Of Getting Rid Of It In Any Satisfactory Way, And To All The Constitutional Obligations Which Have Been Thrown About It; But, Nevertheless, Desire A Policy That Looks To The Prevention Of It As A Wrong, And Looks Hopefully To The Time When As A Wrong It May Come To An End.

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

I Shall Always Think Of Myself First And Foremost... As A Hunter.

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.

There Is Nothing True Anywhere, The True Is Nowhere To Be Seen; If You Say You See The True, This Seeing Is Not The True One.

I Was Losing Interest In Politics, When The Repeal Of The Missouri Compromise Aroused Me Again. What I Have Done Since Then Is Pretty Well Known.

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

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

I Am In Favor Of Animal Rights As Well As Human Rights. That Is The Way Of A Whole Human Being.

The Land-grant University System Is Being Built On Behalf Of The People, Who Have Invested In These Public Universities Their Hopes, Their Support, And Their Confidence.

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

Teach The Children So It Will Not Be Necessary To Teach The Adults.

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.

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.

Shall We Stop This Bleeding?

If You Love Something, Set It Free.

Getting Back Together

My Faith In The Proposition That Each Man Should Do Precisely As He Pleases With All Which Is Exclusively His Own Lies At The Foundation Of The Sense Of Justice There Is In Me.

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

The People Themselves, And Not Their Servants, Can Safely Reverse Their Own Deliberate Decisions.

There Is No Greater Injustice Than To Wring Your Profits From The Sweat Of Another Man's Brow.

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

I Do Not Wish To Be Misunderstood Upon This Subject Of Slavery In This Country. I Suppose It May Long Exist, And Perhaps The Best Way For It To Come To An End Peaceably Is For It To Exist For A Length Of Time. But I Say That The Spread And Strengthening And Perpetuation Of It Is An Entirely Different Proposition. There We Should In Every Way Resist It As A Wrong, Treating It As A Wrong, With The Fixed Idea That It Must And Will Come To An End.

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

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

Let No Young Man Choosing The Law For A Calling For A Moment Yield To The Popular Belief -- Resolve To Be Honest At All Events; And If In Your Own Judgment You Cannot Be An Honest Lawyer, Resolve To Be Honest Without Being A Lawyer.

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.

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

Emancipation Proclamation

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

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

Never Do Anything For Anyone Who Can Just As Well Do It Themself

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

A Drop Of Honey Catches More Flies Than A Gallon Of Gall. So With Men. If You Would Win A Man To Your Cause, First Convince Him That You Are His Sincere Friend. Therein Is A Drop Of Honey Which Catches His Heart, Which, Say What He Will, Is The Highroad To His Reason.

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.

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.

Allow Me To Assure You, That Suspicion And Jealousy Never Did Help Any Man In Any Situation.

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

If 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.

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.

Let Not Him Who Is Houseless Pull Down The House Of Another, But Let Him Work Diligently And Build One For Himself, Thus By Example Assuring That His Own Shall Be Safe From Violence When Built.

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".

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

Allow The President To Invade A Neighboring Nation, Whenever He Shall Deem It Necessary To Repel An Invasion, And You Allow Him To Do So Whenever He May Choose To Say He Deems It Necessary For Such A Purpose - And You Allow Him To Make War At Pleasure.

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

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.

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.

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

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

The Worst Thing You Can Do For Anyone You Care About Is Anything That They Can Do On Their Own.

Slavery Is Founded In The Selfishness Of Man's Nature - Opposition To It Is His Love Of Justice. These Principles Are An Eternal Antagonism; And When Brought Into Collision So Fiercely, As Slavery Extension Brings Them, Shocks And Throes And Convulsions Must Ceaselessly Follow.

Every Man Is Proud Of What He Does Well; And No Man Is Proud Of What He Does Not Do Well. With The Former, His Heart Is In His Work; And He Will Do Twice As Much Of It With Less Fatigue. The Latter Performs A Little Imperfectly, Looks At It In Disgust, Turns From It, And Imagines Himself Exceedingly Tired. The Little He Has Done, Comes To Nothing, For Want Of Finishing.

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

I Have Always Wanted To Deal With Everyone I Meet Candidly And Honestly. If I Have Made Any Assertion Not Warranted By Facts, And It Is Pointed Out To Me, I Will Withdraw It Cheerfully.

It's Bad. It's Damned Bad.

In The Way Our Fathers Originally Left The Slavery Question, The Institution Was In The Course Of Ultimate Extinction, And The Public Mind Rested In The Belief That It Was In The Course Of Ultimate Extinction . . . . All I Have Asked Or Desired Anywhere, Is That It Should Be Placed Back Again Upon The Basis That The Fathers Of Our Government Originally Placed It Upon.

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

There Is Another Old Poet Whose Name I Do Not Now Remember Who Said, 'truth Is The Daughter Of Time.'

These Capitalists Generally Act Harmoniously And In Concert To Fleece The People, And Now That They Have Got Into A Quarrel With Themselves, We Are Called Upon To Appropriate The People's Money To Settle The Quarrel.

I Want It Said Of Me By Those Who Knew Me Best, That I Always Plucked A Thistle And Planted A Flower Where I Thought A Flower Would Grow.

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

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

You May Have A Wen Or A Cancer Upon Your Person And Not Be Able To Cut It Out Lest You Bleed To Death; But Surely It Is No Way Tocure It, To Engraft It And Spread It Over Your Whole Body.

Hold On With A Bulldog Grip, And Chew And Choke As Much As Possible.

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 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.

Do The People Of The South Really Entertain Fears That A Republican Administration Would, Directly, Or Indirectly, Interfere With Their Slaves, Or With Them, About Their Slaves? If They Do, I Wish To Assure You, As Once A Friend, And Still, I Hope, Not An Enemy, That There Is No Cause For Such Fears.

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.

In The First Place, I Insist That Our Fathers Did Not Make This Nation Half Slave And Half Free, Or Part Slave And Part Free. I Insist That They Found The Institution Of Slavery Existing Here. They Did Not Make It So, But They Left It So Because They Knew Of No Way To Get Rid Of It At That Time.

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.

Now We Are Engaged In A Great Civil War, Testing Whether That Nation, Or Any Nation So Conceived And So Dedicated, Can Long Endure.

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

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.

If You Want Your Name To Be Remembered After Your Death Either Do Something Worth Writing Or Write Some Thing Worth Reading

I Cannot Speak So Confidently About The Fighting Qualities Of The Eastern Men, Or What Are Called Yankees - Not Knowing Myself Particularly To Whom The Appellation Belongs - But This I Do Know - If The Southerners Think That Man For Man They Are Better Than Our Illinois Men, Or Western Men Generally, They Will Discover Themselves In A Grievous Mistake.

Every Head Should Be Cultivated.

The Us Patent System Adds The Fuel Of Interest To The Fire Of Genius In The Discovery And Production Of New And Useful Things

I Am Absent Altogether Too Much To Be A Suitable Instructor For A Law-student. When A Man Has Reached The Age That Mr. Widner Has,and Has Already Been Doing For Himself, My Judgment Is, That He Reads The Books For Himself Without An Instructor. That Is Precisely The Way I Came To The Law.

This Country, With Its Institutions, Belongs To The People Who Inhabit It. Whenever They Shall Grow Weary Of The Existing Government, They Can Exercise Their Constitutional Right Of Amending It, Or Exercise Their Revolutionary Right To Overthrow It.

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.

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

What I Want Is To Get Done What The People Desire To Have Done, And The Question For Me Is How To Find That Out Exactly.

Wanting To Work Is So Rare A Merit, That It Should Be Encouraged.

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

Evidence Of God

I Desire To See The Time When Education, And By Its Means, Morality, Sobriety, Enterprise And Industry Shall Become Much More General Than At Present.

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