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We Have All Heard Of Young America. He Is The Most Current Youth Of The Age. Some Think Him Conceited, And Arrogant; But Has He Not Reason To Entertain A Rather Extensive Opinion Of Himself? Is He Not The Inventor And Owner Of The Present, And Sole Hope Of The Future?

-Abraham Lincoln

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We Have All Heard

Abraham Lincoln

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We Have All Heard Of Young America. He Is The Most Current Youth Of The Age. Some Think Him Conceited, And Arrogant; But Has He Not Reason To Entertain A Rather Extensive Opinion Of Himself? Is He Not The Inventor And Owner Of The Present, And Sole Hope Of The Future?

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I Do Not Allow Myself To Suppose That Either The Convention Or The League, Have Concluded To Decide That I Am Either The Greatest Or The Best Man In America, But Rather They Have Concluded It Is Not Best To Swap Horses While Crossing The River, And Have Further Concluded That I Am Not So Poor A Horse That They Might Not Make A Botch Of It In Trying To Swap.

Money Will Cease To Be Master And Become The Servant Of Humanity. Democracy Will Rise Superior To The Money Power.

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

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 Both Factions, Or Neither, Shall Abuse You, You Will Probably Be About Right. Beware Of Being Assailed By One And Praised By The Other.

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.

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.

I Shall Do Less Whenever I Shall Believe What I Am Doing Hurts The Cause And I Shall Do More Whenever I Shall Believe Doing More Will Help The Cause. I Shall Try To Correct Errors When Shown To Be Errors And I Shall Adopt New Views So Fast As They Shall Appear To Be True Views.

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

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.

Achievement Has No Color

Why Don't You Laugh? If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die, And You Need This Medicine As Much As I Do.

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.

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

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

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.

Love Is The Chain Whereby To Bind A Child To Its Parents.

I Believe It Is An Established Maxim In Morals That He Who Makes An Assertion Without Knowing Whether It Is True Or False, Is Guilty Of Falsehood; And The Accidental Truth Of The Assertion, Does Not Justify Or Excuse Him.

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

I Hate It Because Of The Monstrous Injustice Of Slavery Itself. I Hate It Because It Deprives Our Republican Example Of Its Just Influence In The World.

When I Have A Particular Case In Hand, I Have That Motive And Feel An Interest In The Case, Feel An Interest In Ferreting Out The Questions To The Bottom, Love To Dig Up The Question By The Roots And Hold It Up And Dry It Before The Fires Of The Mind.

If Any Personal Description Of Me Is Thought Desirable, It May Be Said, I Am, In Height, Six Feet, Four Inches, Nearly; Lean In Flesh, Weighing On An Average One Hundred And Eighty Pounds; Dark Complexion, With Coarse Black Hair, And Grey Eyes -- No Other Marks Or Brands Recollected.

Abraham Lincoln Was Asked By An Aide About The Church Service He Had Attended. Lincoln Responded That The Minister Was Inspired, Interesting, Well-prepared, Eloquent And The Topic Relevant. The Aide Said, “then It Was A Good Service?” Lincoln Responded, “no.” The Aide Protested, “but, Mr. President, You Said That The Minister Was Inspired, Interesting, Well-prepared, Eloquent, And That The Topic Was Relevant.” “yes,” Replied Lincoln, “but He Didn’t Challenge Us To Do Any Great Thing.

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

Nowhere In The World Is Presented A Government Of So Much Liberty And Equality. To The Humblest And Poorest Amongst Us Are Held Out The Highest Privileges And Positions. The Present Moment Finds Me At The White House, Yet There Is As Good A Chance For Your Children As There Was For My Father's.

You Cannot Help The Poor By Destroying The Rich. You Cannot Lift The Wage Earner By Pulling Down The Wage Payer.

Libertarian Party

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.

If We Could First Know Where We Are, And Whither We Are Tending, We Could Then Better Judge What To Do, And How To Do It.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

We Shall Meanly Lose Or Nobly Save The Last Hope Of Earth.

Nothing In This World Is Impossible To A Willing Heart.

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.

You Have More Of A Feeling Of Personal Resentment Than I Have. Perhaps, I Have Too Little Of It, But I Never Thought It Paid.

He [stephen Douglas] Is Blowing Out The Moral Lights Around Us, When He Contends That Whoever Wants Slaves Has A Right To Hold Them; That He Is Penetrating, So Far As Lies In His Power, The Human Soul, And Eradicating The Light Of Reason And The Love Of Liberty, When He Is In Every Possible Way Preparing The Public Mind, By His Vast Influence, For Making The Institution Of Slavery Perpetual And National.

Your Rights End Where My Nose Begins.

No Man Has A Right To Judge Andrew Johnson In Any Respect Who Has Not Suffered As Much And Done As Much As He For The Nation's Sake.

The Things I Want To Know Are In Books; My Best Friend Is The Man Who'll Get Me A Book I Ain't Read.

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.

Thoughtful Men Must Feel That The Fate Of Civilization Upon This Continent Is Involved In The Issue Of Our Contest. Among The Most Satisfying Proofs Of This Conviction Is The Hearty Devotion Everywhere Exhibited By Our Schools And Colleges To The National Cause.

I Am Not An Accomplished Lawyer.

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

Be With A Leader When He Is Right, Stay With Him When He Is Still Right, But, Leave Him When He Is Wrong.

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

You Can Have Anything You Want If You Want It Badly Enough. You Can Be Anything You Want To Be, Do Anything You Set Out To Accomplish If You Hold To That Desire With Singleness Of Purpose.

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.

Talk To The Jury As Though Your Client's Fate Depends On Every Word You Utter.

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

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

It Has Been Said That One Bad General Is Better Than Two Good Ones, And The Saying Is True If Taken To Mean No More Than That An Army Is Better Directed By A Single Mind, Though Inferior, Than By Two Superior Ones At Variance And Cross-purposes With Each Other. And The Same Is True In All Joint Operations Wherein Those Engaged Can Have None But A Common End In View And Can Differ Only As To The Choice Of Means. In A Storm At Sea No One On Board Can Wish The Ship To Sink, And Yet Not Unfrequently All Go Down Together Because Too Many Will Direct And No Single Mind Can Be Allowed To Control.

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

When Arguing With A Fool, Make Sure The Opponent Isn't Doing The Exact Same Thing.

The Negative Principle That No Law Is Free Law, Is Not Much Known Except Among Lawyers.

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

Anxiety Beclouds The Future.

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?

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.

Sir, My Concern Is Not Whether God Is On Our Side; My Greatest Concern Is To Be On God's Side, For God Is Always Right.

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

Oh, That [his Thanksgiving Message] Is Some Of Seward's Nonsense, And It Pleases The Fools.

The Judgments Of The Lord Are True And Righteous Altogether.

Divine Revelation

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

The Time Has Come When I Am For Everybody Fighting The Rebels. Let Indians Fight Them; Let The Negroes Fight Them; And If You Have Got Any Strong-legged Jackasses In Iwoa That Can Kick Rebels To Death, They Have My Hearty Consent.

Gold Is Good In Its Place, But Living, Brave, Patriotic Men Are Better Than Gold.

I Am A Little Uneasy About The Abolishment Of Slavery In This District Of Columbia.

As Our Case Is New, So We Must Think Anew, And Act Anew.

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

Legislation And Adjudication Must Follow, And Conform To, The Progress Of Society.

Progress Of Society

When I Hear A Man Preach, I Like To See Him Act As If He Were Fighting Bees.

The Bible Is Not My Book And Christianity Is Not My Religion. I Could Never Give Assent To The Long Complicated Statements Of Christian Dogma.

Both Read The Same Bible, And Pray To The Same God; And Each Invokes His Aid Against The Other. It May Seem Strange That Any Men Should Dare To Ask A Just God's Assistance In Wringing Their Bread From The Sweat Of Other Men's Faces; But Let Us Judge Not That We Be Not Judged. The Prayers Of Both Could Not Be Answered; That Of Neither Has Been Answered Fully.

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.

Through Their Deeds, The Dead Of Battle Have Spoken More Eloquently For Themselves Than Any Of The Living Ever Could. But We Can Only Honor Them By Rededicating Ourselves To The Cause For Which They Gave A Last Full Measure Of Devotion.

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.

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.

Quarrel Not At All. No Man Resolved To Make The Most Of Himself Can Spare Time For Personal Contention.

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?

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

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

Inspirational Life

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

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.

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

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.

Be Excellent And Party On Dudes.

The Purposes Of The Almighty Are Perfect, And Must Prevail, Though We Erring Mortals May Fail To Accurately Perceive Them In Advance. We Hoped For A Happy Termination Of This Terrible War Long Before This; But God Knows Best, And Has Ruled Otherwise. We Shall Yet Acknowledge His Wisdom, And Our Own Error Therein. Meanwhile We Must Work Earnestly In The Best Lights He Gives Us, Trusting That So Working Still Conduces To The Great Ends He Ordains. Surely He Intends Some Great Good To Follow This Mighty Convulsion, Which No Mortal Could Make, And No Mortal Could Stay.

Public Opinion In This Country Is Everything.

I Could Write Shorter Sermons But When I Get Started I'm Too Lazy To Stop

If There Is Anything Which It Is The Duty Of The Whole People To Never Entrust To Any Hands But Their Own, That Thing Is The Preservation And Perpetuity Of Their Own Liberties And Institutions.

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.

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

Everybody Likes Compliment.

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

History Is Not History Unless It Is The Truth.

I Fear Explanations Explanatory Of Things Explained.

You Have To Do Your Own Growing No Matter How Tall Your Grandfather Was.

Property Is The Fruit Of Labor; Property Is Desirable; It Is A Positive Good.

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

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

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

I Am A Patient Man--always Willing To Forgive On The Christian Terms Of Repentance, And Also To Give Ample Time For Repentance. Still, I Must Save This Government, If Possible. What I Cannot Do, Of Course I Will Not Do, But It May As Well Be Understood, Once For All, That I Shall Not Surrender This Game Leaving Any Available Card Unplayed.

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.

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

Democracies Have

Give Me Six Hours To Chop Down A Tree And I Will Spend The First Four Sharpening The Axe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

So You're The Little Woman Who Wrote The Book That Made This Great War!

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.

I Don't Know Who My Grandfather Was; I Am Much More Concerned To Know What His Grandson Will Be.

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

I Do Not Think Much Of A Man Who Is Not Wiser Today Than He Was Yesterday.

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

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

We Believe That The Spreading Out And Perpetuity Of The Institution Of Slavery Impairs The General Welfare. We Believe - Nay, We Know, That That Is The Only Thing That Has Ever Threatened The Perpetuity Of The Union Itself.

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

I Want In All Cases To Do Right.

Writing Is The Great Invention Of The World.

Great Inventions

The Highest Art Is Always The Most Religious, And The Greatest Artist Is Always A Devout Person.

Lonely Men Seek Companionship. Lonely Women Sit At Home And Wait. They Never Meet.

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

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

A Statesman Is He Who Thinks In The Future Generations, And A Politician Is He Who Thinks In The Upcoming Elections.

The Ballot Is Stronger Than The Bullet.

Democracies Have

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

The Way For A Young Man To Rise Is To Improve Himself In Every Way He Can, Never Suspecting That Anybody Wishes To Hinder Him.

I Destroy My Enemy If I Make Him My Friend.

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

The Fiery Trials Through Which We Pass Will Light Us Down In Honor Or Dishonor To The Latest Generation.

Congress And The President

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

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

I Can Not But Hate The Prospect Of Slavery's Expansion. I Hate It Because Of The Monstrous Injustice Of Slavery Itself. I Hate It Because It Deprives Our Republican Example Of Its Just Influence In The World-enables The Enemies Of Free Institutions, With Plausibility, To Taunt Us As Hypocrites-causes The Real Friends Of Freedom To Doubt Our Sincerity.

...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.

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.

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

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.

I Have Really Got It Into My Head To Try To Be United States Senator, And, If I Could Have Your Support, My Chances Would Be Reasonably Good. But I Know, And Acknowledge, That You Have As Just Claims To The Place As I Have; And Therefore I Cannot Ask You To Yield To Me, If You Are Thinking Of Becoming A Candidate, Yourself. If, However, You Are Not, Then I Should Like To Be Remembered Affectionately By You; And Also To Have You Make A Mark For Me With The Anti-nebraska Members Down Your Way.

I Have Got You Together To Hear What I Have Written Down. I Do Not Wish Your Advice About The Main Matterfor That I Have Determined For Myself.

If We Know Where We Are And Something About How We Got There, We Might See Where We Are Trending - And If The Outcomes Which Lie Naturally In Our Course Are Unacceptable, To Make Timely Change.

I Do The Very Best I Can, I Mean To Keep Going. If The End Brings Me Out All Right, Then What Is Said Against Me Won't Matter. If I'm Wrong, Ten Angels Swearing I Was Right Won't Make A Difference.

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

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.

I Have A Congenital Aversion To Failure.

A Fellow Once Came To Me To Ask For An Appointment As A Minister Abroad. Finding He Could Not Get That, He Came Down To Some More Modest Position. Finally, He Asked To Be Made A Tide-waiter. When He Saw He Could Not Get That, He Asked Me For An Old Pair Of Trousers. It Is Sometimes Well To Be Humble.

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.

That I Am Not A Member Of Any Christian Church, Is True; But I Have Never Denied The Truth Of The Scriptures; And I Have Never Spoken With Intentional Disrepect Of Religion In General, Or Of Any Denomination Of Christians In Particular.

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

If Any Man Tells You He Loves America, Yet Hates Labor, He Is A Liar. If Any Man Tells You He Trusts America, Yet Fears Labor, He Is A Fool.

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

I 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.

Every Blade Of Grass Is A Study; And To Produce Two, Where There Was But One, Is Both A Profit And A Pleasure.

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.

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

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

In Those Days, Our Declaration Of Independence Was Held Sacred By All, And Thought To Include All; But Now, To Aid In The Making The Bondage Of The Negro Universal And Eternal, It Is Assailed, And Sneered At, And Construed, And Hawked At, And Torn, Till, If Its Framers Could Rise From Their Graves, They Could Not At All Recognize It.

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

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.

Whether Or Not The World Would Be Vastly Benefited By A Total Banishment From It Of All Intoxicating Drinks Seems Not Now An Open Question. Three-fourths Of Mankind Confess The Affirmative With Their Tongues, And I Believe All The Rest Acknowledge It In Their Hearts.

It Is The Quality Of Revolutions Not To Go By Old Lines Or Old Laws; But To Break Up Both, And Make New Ones.

I Never Tire Of Reading Tom Paine.

Better To Remain Silent And Thought A Fool, Than To Speak Out And Confirm That You Didn't Do The Assigned Readings Before The Strategic Planning Retreat.

The Sense Of Obligation To Continue Is Present In All Of Us. A Duty To Strive Is The Duty Of Us All. I Felt A Call To That Duty.

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.

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.

You Cannot Have The Right To Do What Is Wrong!

Never Change Horses In Midstream.

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.

Labor Is Prior To, And Independent Of, Capital. Capital Is Only The Fruit Of Labor, And Could Never Have Existed If Labor Had Not First Existed. Labor Is The Superior Of Capital, And Deserves Much The Higher Consideration.

My Great Concern Is Not Whether You Have Failed, But Whether You Are Content With Your Failure.

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

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.'

Kindness Is The Only Service That Will Stand The Storm Of Life And Not Wash Out.

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

Never Let Your Correspondence Fall Behind.

Every Man Is Said To Have His Peculiar Ambition.

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.

Freedom Is The Last, Best Hope Of Earth.

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.

Don't Pray That God's On Our Side, Pray That We're On His Side.

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.

The Prudent, Penniless Beginner In The World, Labors For Wages Awhile, Saves A Surplus With Which To Buy Tools Or Land, For Himself; Then Labors On His Own Account Another While, And At Length Hires Another New Beginner To Help Him. This, Say Its Advocates, Is Free Labor-the Just And Generous, And Prosperous System, Which Opens The Way For All-gives Hope To All, And Energy, And Progress, And Improvement Of Condition To All.

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.

Killing The Dog Does Not Cure The Bite.

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

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

And Having Thus Chosen Our Course, Without Guile, And With Pure Purpose, Let Us Renew Our Trust In God, And Go Forward Without Fear, And With Manly Hearts.

I Will Either Be America's Greatest President Or Its Last.

Too Many Piglets Not Enough Tits.

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.

The Almighty Has His Own Purposes.

Much Is Being Said About Peace; And No Man Desires Peace More Ardently Than I. Still I Am Yet Unprepared To Give Up The Union Fora Peace Which, So Achieved, Could Not Be Of Much Duration.

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

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

Moral Principle Is A Looser Bond Than Pecuniary Interest.

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Laurie Halse Anderson

Timothy Olyphant

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