Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 88

'I can make more generals but horses cost money.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 87

According to Doris Kearns Goodwin, when Lincoln received the Republican nomination for president in 1860 he ‘seemed to have come from nowhere – a backwoods lawyer who had served one undistinguished term in the House of Representatives and had lost two consecutive contests for the U. S. Senate. Contemporaries and historians alike have attributed his surprising nomination to chance – the fact that he came from the battleground state of Illinois and stood in the center of his party. The comparative perspective suggests a different interpretation. When viewed against the failed efforts of his rivals, it is clear that Lincoln won the nomination because he was shrewdest and canniest of them all. More accustomed to relying upon himself to shape events, he took the greatest control of the process leading up to the nomination, displaying a fierce ambition, an exceptional political acumen, and a wide range of emotional strengths, forged in the crucible of personal hardship, that took his unsuspecting rivals by surprise.’
- Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 86

'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 for a peace which so achieved could not be of much duration.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 85

Whatever the negative effects domestically, the Emancipation Proclamation was an unparalleled success abroad.

Henry Adams secretary to the US Ambassador in London couldn’t have put it more strongly: ‘The Emancipation Proclamation has done more for us here than all our former victories and all our diplomacy. It is creating an almost convulsive reaction in our favor all over this country.'

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 84

 ‘Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.’
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 83

'If a man is honest in his mind you are pretty safe in trusting him.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 82

'Die when I may I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.'
- Abraham Lincoln