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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.

-Abraham Lincoln

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Upon This Subject, The

Abraham Lincoln

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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.

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

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.

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.

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

Stand With Anybody That Stands Right, Stand With Him While He Is Right And Part With Him When He Goes Wrong.

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.

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.

That On The First Day Of January, In The Year Of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred Ans Sixty-three, All Persons Held As Slaves Within Any State Or Designated Part Of A State, The People Whereof Shall Then Be In Rebellion Against The United States, Shall Be Then, Thence Forward, And Forever Free.

The Dogmas Of The Quiet Past Are Inadequate To The Stormy Present. The Occasion Is Piled High With Difficulty, And We Must Rise With The Occasion. As Our Case Is New, So We Must Think Anew And Act Anew.

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.

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

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

At 50, If You Are On A Diet On Your Birthday, You Can't Eat A Piece Of Your Birthday Cake. So Grab Two, A Piece In Each Hand And, Lo And Behold, You Will Be On A Balanced Diet! Happy Birthday, Old Chum!

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

The Money Power Preys On The Nation In Times Of Peace, And Conspires Against It In Times Of Adversity. It Is More Despotic Than Monarchy, More Insolent Than Autocracy, More Selfish Than Bureaucracy. It Denounces, As Public Enemies, All Who Question Its Methods Or Throw Light Upon Its Crimes.

When You Make It To The Top, Turn And Reach Down For The Person Behind You.

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

Shall We Stop This Bleeding?

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

If Slavery Is Not Wrong, Nothing Is Wrong.

Money Possesses No Value To The State Other Than That Given To It By Circulation.

The World Shall Know That I Will Keep My Faith To Friends And Enemies, Come What Will.

Friends And Enemies

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 Am A Moderate Walker, However I Never Stroll Back.

Liquor May Have Its Defenders, But It Has No Defense.

The Petition Of Persons Under Eighteen, Praying That I Would Free All Slave Children, And The Heading Of Which Petition It Appears You Wrote, Was Handed Me A Few Days Since By Senator Sumner. Please Tell These Little People I Am Very Glad Their Young Hearts Are So Full Of Just And Generous Sympathy, And That, While I Have Not The Power To Grant All They Ask, I Trust They Will Remember That God Has, And That, As It Seems, He Wills To Do It.

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

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

Ere Long The Most Valuable Of All Arts Will Be The Art Of Deriving A Comfortable Subsistence From The Smallest Area Of Soil. No Community Where Every Member Possesses The Art Can Ever Be The Victim Of Oppression In Any Of Its Forms.

Towering Genius...thirsts And Burns For Distinction; And, If Possible, It Will Have It, Whether At The Expense Of Emancipating Slaves Or Enslaving Freeman.

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.

The World Will Little Note, Nor Long Remember What We Say Here, But It Can Never Forget What They Did Here. It Is For Us The Living, Rather, To Be Dedicated Here To The Unfinished Work Which They Who Fought Here So Nobly Advanced.

Unfinished Work

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.

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.

Again I Admonish You Not To Be Turned From Your Stern Purpose Of Defending Your Beloved Country And Its Free Institutions By Any Arguments Urged By Ambitious And Designing Men, But Stand Fast To The Union And The Old Flag.

I Shall Adopt New Views As Fast As They Shall Appear To Be True Views.

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.

We Cannot Escape History.

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

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

Emancipation Proclamation

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.

In All That People Can Do For Themselves, Government Ought Not To Interfere.

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

A Child Is A Person Who Is Going To Carry On What You Have Started ... He Will Assume Control Of Your Cities, States And Nations. He Is Going To Move In And Take Over Your Churches, Schools, Universities, And Corporations ... The Fate Of Humanity Is In His Hands.

With Educated People, I Suppose, Punctuation Is A Matter Of Rule; With Me It Is A Matter Of Feeling. But I Must Say I Have A Great Respect For The Semicolin; It's A Useful Little Chap

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.

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.

We Must Free The Slaves Or Be Ourselves Subdued.

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

A Man Watches His Pear-tree Day After Day, Impatient For The Ripening Of The Fruit. Let Him Attempt To Force The Process, And He May Spoil Both Fruit And Tree. But Let Him Patiently Wait, And The Ripe Pear At Length Falls Into His Lap.

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

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

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?

We Meet This Evening, Not In Sorrow, But In Gladness Of Heart.

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.

Every Man Is Born An Original, But Sadly, Most Men Die Copies.

I Do But Quote From One Of Those Speeches When I Declare That "i Have No Purpose, Directly Or Indirectly, To Interfere With The Institution Of Slavery In The States Where It Exists. I Believe I Have No Lawful Right To Do So, And I Have No Inclination To Do So."

The Time Comes Upon Every Public Man When It Is Best For Him To Keep His Lips Closed.

The Plainest Print Cannot Be Read Through A Gold Eagle.

A Man's Legs Must Be Long Enough To Reach The Ground.

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.

Nothing Will Divert Me From My Purpose.

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

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

We Should Avoid Planting And Cultivating Too Many Thorns In The Bosom Of Society.

As An Individual Who Undertakes To Live By Borrowing, Soon Finds His Original Means Devoured By Interest, And Next No One Left To Borrow From - So Must It Be With A Government.

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.

Do You Think We Choose The Times Into Which We Are Born? Or Do We Fit The Times We Are Born Into?

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

With Firmness In The Right, As God Gives Us To See The Right.

To Ease Another’s Heartache Is To Forget One’s Own.

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.

I Want In All Cases To Do Right.

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

No Client Ever Had Money Enough To Bribe My Conscience Or To Stop Its Utterance Against Wrong, And Oppression. My Conscience Is My Own - My Creators - Not Man's. I Shall Never Sink The Rights Of Mankind To The Malice, Wrong, Or Avarice Of Another's Wishes, Though Those Wishes Come To Me In The Relation Of Client And Attorney.

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

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

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

If I Gave Mcclellan All The Men He Asked For, They Could Not Find Room To Lie Down; They'd Have To Sleep Standing Up.

My Father Taught Me To Work; He Did Not Teach Me To Love It.

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

We Live In The Midst Of Alarms; Anxiety Beclouds The Future; We Expect Some New Disaster With Each Newspaper We Read.

Without Slavery The Rebellion Could Never Have Existed; Without Slavery It Could Not Continue.

If I Could Save The Union Without Freeing Any Slave, I Would Do It.

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.

I Will, To The Best Of My Ability, Preserve, Protect And Defend The Constitution Of The United States. It Is Not The Constitution As I Would Like To Have It, But As It Is, That Is To Be Defended. The Constitution Will Not Be Preserved & Defended Until It Is Enforced & Obeyed In Every Part Of Every One Of The United States. It Must Be So Respected, Obeyed, Enforced And Defended, And Let The Grass Grow Where It May.

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

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

The Land, The Earth God Gave To Man For His Home ... Should Never Be The Possession Of Any Man, Corporation, (or) Society ... Any More Than The Air Or Water.

You Can Have Anything You Want, If You Want It Badly Enough.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

A Capacity And Taste For Reading Gives Access To Whatever Has Already Been Discovered By Others.

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

On The Whole, My Impression Is That Mercy Bears Richer Fruits Than Any Other Attribute.

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

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.

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

I 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.

The World Has Never Had A Good Definition Of The Word Liberty

Relying, As I Do, Upon The Almighty Power, And Encouraged As I Am By These Resolutions Which You Have Just Read, With The Support Which I Receive From Christian Men, I Shall Not Hesitate To Use All The Means At My Control To Secure The Termination Of This Rebellion, And Will Hope For Success.

In Giving Freedom To The Slave, We Assure Freedom To The Free - Honorable Alike In What We Give And What We Preserve. We Shall Nobly Save, Or Meanly Lose, The Last Best Hope Of Earth.

Congress And The President

When The Conduct Of Men Is Designed To Be Influenced, Persuasion, Kind, Unassuming Persuasion, Should Ever Be Adopted. It Is An Old And A True Maxim, That 'a Drop Of Honey Catches More Flies Than A Gallon Of Gall.'

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

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

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

The Only Person Who Is A Worse Liar Than A Faith Healer Is His Patient.

Violence Begins Where Knowledge Ends.

When Someone Asked Abraham Lincoln, After He Was Elected President, What He Was Going To Do About His Enemies, He Replied, "i Am Going To Destroy Them. I Am Going To Make Them My Friends."

We Accepted This War For An Object, A Worthy Object, And The War Will End When That Object Is Attained. Under God, I Hope It Never Will Until That Time.

If By The Mere Force Of Numbers A Majority Should Deprive A Minority Of Any Clearly Written Constitutional Right, It Might, In A Moral Point Of View, Justify Revolution.

Nothing New Here, Except My Marrying, Which To Me Is A Matter Of Profound Wonder.

I See In The Near Future A Crisis Approaching That Unnerves Me And Causes Me To Tremble For The Safety Of My Country.

By All Means, Don't Say, "if I Can," Say "i Will."

I Am Not Bound To Win, But I Am Bound To Be True.

No Policy That Does Not Rest Upon Some Philosophical Public Opinion Can Be Permanently Maintained.

Seriously, I Do Not Think I Am Fit For The Presidency.

I Could Not Have Slept Tonight If I Had Left That Helpless Little Creature To Perish On The Ground.

I Soon Began To Dream. ... I Heard Subdued Sobs, As If A Number Of People Were Weeping. ... I Left My Bed And Wandered Downstairs. ... There I Met With A Sickening Surprise. Before Me Was A Catafalque, On Which Rested A Corpse Wrapped In Funeral Vestments. Around It Were Stationed Soldiers Who Were Acting As Guards; And There Was A Throng Of People, Gazing Mournfully Upon The Corpse, Whose Face Was Covered, Others Weeping Pitifully. 'who Is Dead In The White House?' I Demanded Of One Of The Soldiers, 'the President,' Was His Answer; 'he Was Killed By An Assassin.''

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.

It Is Much Easier To Ride A Horse In The Direction It Is Going.

I Will Prepare And Some Day My Chance Will Come.

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

I See In The Near Future A Crisis Approaching That Unnerves Me And Causes Me To Tremble For The Safety Of My Country... Corporations Have Been Enthroned And An Era Of Corruption In High Places Will Follow, And The Money Power Of The Country Will Endeavor To Prolong Its Reign By Working Upon The Prejudices Of The People Until All Wealth Is Aggregated In A Few Hands And The Republic Is Destroyed.

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

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

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

Procrastination

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

In 1841 You And I Had Together A Tedious Low-water Trip, On A Steam Boat From Louisville To St. Louis. You May Remember, As I Well Do, That From Louisville To The Mouth Of The Ohio There Were, On Board, Ten Or A Dozen Slaves, Shackled Together With Irons. That Sight Was A Continual Torment To Me; And I See Something Like It Every Time I Touch The Ohio, Or Any Other Slave-border.

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.

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

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.

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.

As The Patriots Of Seventy-six Did To The Support Of The Declaration Of Independence, So To The Support Of The Constitution And Laws, Let Every American Pledge His Life, His Property, And His Sacred Honor;-let Every Man Remember That To Violate The Law, Is To Trample On The Blood Of His Father, And To Tear The Character Of His Own, And His Children's Liberty.

Everybody Likes A Compliment.

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

Extemporaneous Speaking Should Be Practised And Cultivated. It Is The Lawyer's Avenue To The Public.

Public Speaking

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

New Relationship

Anybody Will Do For You, But Not For Me.

The Will Of God Prevails.

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

I Am Satisfied That When The Almighty Wants Me To Do Or Not Do Any Particular Thing, He Finds A Way Of Letting Me Know It

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.

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

The Most Reliable Way To Predict The Future Is To Create It.

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

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

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.

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?

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

These Men Ask For Just The Same Thing, Fairness, And Fairness Only. This, So Far As In My Power, They, And All Others, Shall Have.

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.

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

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

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

Teach Economy. That Is One Of The First And Highest Virtues. It Begins With Saving Money.

I Think Slavery Is Wrong, Morally, And Politically. I Desire That It Should Be No Further Spread In These United States, And I Should Not Object If It Should Gradually Terminate In The Whole Union.

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

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

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.

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

All The Armies Of Europe Combined Could Not By Force Make A Track Upon The Blue Ridge, Or Take A Drink From The Ohio. If We Are To Be Destroyed, We Must Do It Ourselves.

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.

Always Let Your Subordinates Know That The Honor Will Be All Theirs If They Succeed And The Blame Will Be Yours If They Fail.

No State, Upon Its Own Mere Motion, Can Lawfully Get Out Of The Union. Plainly, The Central Idea Of Secession, Is The Essence Of Anarchy.

I Am Much Indebted To The Good Christian People Of The Country For Their Constant Prayers And Consolations; And To No One Of Them, More Than To Yourself.

The Autocrat Of All The Russias Will Resign His Crown, And Proclaim His Subjects Free Republicans Sooner Than Will Our American Masters Voluntarily Give Up Their Slaves.

I Am Busily Engaged In Study Of The Bible.

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

Most Governments Have Been Based, Practically, On The Denial Of Equal Rights Of Menours Began, By Affirming Those Rights. They Said, Some Men Are Too Ignorant, And Vicious, To Share In Government. Possibly So, Said We; And, By Your System, You Would Always Keep Them Ignorant, And Vicious. We Proposed To Give All A Chance; And We Expected The Weak To Grow Stronger, The Ignorant Wiser; And All Better, And Happier Together.

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.

The Man Who Stands By And Says Nothing, When The Peril Of His Government Is Discussed, Can Not Be Misunderstood. If Not Hindered, He Is Sure To Help The Enemy.

Negroes, Like Other People, Act Upon Motives. Why Should They Do Anything For Us, If We Will Do Nothing For Them? If They Stake Their Lives For Us, They Must Be Prompted By The Strongest Motive, Even The Promise Of Freedom. And The Promise Being Made, Must Be Kept.

Suspicions Which May Be Unjust Need Not Be Stated.

Never Let Your Correspondence Fall Behind.

As Long As The Almighty Permitted Intelligent Men, Created In His Image And Likeness, To Fight In Public And Kill Each Other While The World Looks On Approvingly, It's Not For Me To Deprive The Chickens Of The Same Privilege.

Nations Like Individuals Are Subjected To Punishments And Chastisements In This World.

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

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

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

If Once You Forfeit The Confidence Of Your Fellow-citizens, You Can Never Regain Their Respect And Esteem.

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.

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

Education Does Not Mean Teaching People What They Do Not Know. It Means Teaching Them To Behave As They Do Not Behave.

If There Is No Military Need For The Building, Leave It Alone, Neither Putting Anyone In Or Out Of It, Except On Finding Some One Preaching Or Practicing Treason, In Which Case Lay Hands On Him, Just As If He Were Doing The Same Thing In Any Other Building.

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.

I Have Never Had A Feeling Politically That Did Not Spring From The Sentiments Embodied In The Declaration Of Independence.

The Working Men Are The Basis Of All Governments, For The Plain Reason That They Are The Most Numerous.

The Loss Of Enemies Does Not Compensate For The Loss Of Friends.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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