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Abraham Lincoln Quotes and Quotations
I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back. The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honour or dishonour to the latest generation. What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself. If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while. Yours respectfully, He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be. With high hope for the future, no prediction is ventured. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. We trust, sir, that God is on our side. It is more important to know that we are on God's side. No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. While the people retain their virtue and vigilence, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years. Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one. This is a most valuable and sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence? The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do for themselves, in their separate and individual capacities. 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. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. 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. Marriage is neither heaven nor hell; it is simply purgatory. 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. We must disenthrall ourselves. Every man over forty is responsible for his face. I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day. Honest statesmanship is the wise employment of individual meannesses for the public good. Seriously, I do not think I am fit for the presidency. I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. To the man who asked how he liked it he said: 'If it wasn't for the honour of the thing, I'd rather walk.' I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration that if, at the end ... I have lost every friend on earth, I shall have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me. When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it is best to let him run. A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me. Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy; but, my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift. When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it is best to let him run. 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. Without the assistance of the Divine Being ... I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day. Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. If they do kill me, I shall never die another death. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. 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 new views. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. I sincerely wish war was a pleasanter and easier business than it is, but it does not admit of holidays. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. With the catching ends the pleasures of the chase. Your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. I sincerely wish war was a pleasanter and easier business than it is, but it does not admit of holidays. 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 claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back. Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible. The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation. Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed. Were it not for my little jokes, I could not bear the burdens of this office. 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. Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy, but my friend, these I reckon will give you a good life. I have found that most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. Most folk are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. 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. What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried? You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it. Fourscore 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. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it. Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves and under a just God cannot long retain it. ... That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of Ewer, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at st have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me. "We trust, Sir, that God is on our side." "It is more important to know that we are on God's side." No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. A house divided against itself cannot stand - I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it. This struggle and scramble for office, for a way to live without work, will finally test the strength of our institutions. Public opinion, though often formed upon a wrong basis, yet generally has a strong underlying sense of justice. We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. God must have loved the plain people: He made so many of them. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. Important principles may and must be flexible. 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 their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. Let us have faith that Right makes Might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The ballot is stronger than the bullet. |