Happy President's Day!
In honor of my favorite President, I am treating you to a few of my favorite Abe quotes. I am also attaching a video of Sam Waterston's rendition of Lincoln's Cooper-Union Address, which was arguing against the expansion of slavery into the territories. It is long, yes, but wonderful. I wish someone would re-enact the Lincoln-Douglass Debates. Sigh.
"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason that Lord makes so many of them."- Letter to John Hay
"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; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."- Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
"I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot." Remarks at the Monogahela House
"...that we here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
"Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invoked 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. The Almighty has His own purposes." Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
"Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally." Speech to One Hundred Fortieth Indiana Regiment, March 17, 1865
"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; it shall not deter me." Speech on the Sub-Treasury, December 26, 1839
"My friends, no one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To his care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." Lincoln's Farewell Address at the Great Western Depot in Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1861
