Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 304

'I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the Declaration of Independence ... that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I would rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender it.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 303

'I have no other goal so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed,' said Abraham Lincoln, age 23, in his very first election speech. If they elected him, he would regard it as a favor. If not, 'I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 302

'I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying; and for this reason; I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be block-head enough to have me.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 301

'I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement I have the best of the bargain.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 300

'I hold that while man exists it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind... I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 299

WHEN IN DOUBT TELL THE TRUTH

'I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 298

'I know not how to aid you save in the assurance of one of mature age and much severe experience that you cannot fail if you resolutely determine that you will not.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 297

'I must stand with anybody that stands right and stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 305

'I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 296

‘I never behold them [the heavens filled with stars] that I do not feel I am looking in the face of God. I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 295

'I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 294

'I never went to school more than six months in my life, but I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand...  I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, trying to make out what was the exact meaning of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, although I tried to, when I got on such a hunt for an idea until I had caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me; for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded it north and bounded it south, and bounded it east and bounded it west.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 293

Not everybody was against Lincoln:

'...I only wish to thank you for being so good - and to say how sorry we all are that you must have four years more of this terrible toil. But remember what a triumph it is for the right, what a blessing to the country - and then your rest shall be glorious when it does come! You can't tell anything about it in Washington where they make a noise on the slightest provocation. But if you had been in this little speck of a village this morning and heard the soft, sweet music of unseen bells rippling through the morning silence from every quarter of the far-off horizon, you would have better known what your name is in this nation. May God help you in the future as he has helped you in the past and a people's love and gratitude will be but a small portion of your exceeding great reward.'

- Mary Abigail Dodge, from her village of Hamilton, Massachusetts, written on the day of Lincoln's second inauguration, March 4, 1865.

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 292

What Lincoln was up against lasted far beyond the firing of the final shot of that sad, silly war as evidenced by the following:

'I rode with Robert E Lee / For three years thereabout.

Got wounded in three places / And I starved at Point Lookout.

I caught the rheumatism / A'campin in the snow.

But I killed a hundred Yankees / And I'd like to kill some more.

Three hundred thousand Yankees / Is stiff in Southern dust,

We got three hundred thousand / Before they conquered us.

They died of Southern fever, / Of Southern steel and shot.

But I wish it was three million / Instead of what we got.'

- 'I'm a good Old Rebel,' Post Civil War ballad