“Great self-destruction follows upon unfounded fear.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

From “Lincoln  365,” by Arnold Kunst

August 15

Nobody was as passionate about reconciliation between North and South as Lincoln. According to the Pulitzer-prize winning biography of Lincoln by Carl Sandburg, at one point the President was visiting the sick and wounded, and came on a tent with Confederate wounded. Shot-torn in both hips lay Henry L. Benbow, a Confederate Colonel, and according to Colonel Benbow, ‘the President halted beside my bed and held out his hand. I was lying on my back, my hands folded across my breast. Looking him in the face I said, “Mr. President, do you know who it is to whom you offer your hand?” “I do not,” he replied. I said, “You offer it to a Confederate colonel who has fought you as hard as he could for four years!” “Well,” said he, “I hope a Confederate colonel will not refuse me his hand.” “No sir,” I replied, “I will not,” and I clasped his hand in both of mine.'

'We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.'

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” – Leonardo da Vinci

From “Lincoln  365,” by Arnold Kunst

August 14

'Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.'

- Abraham Lincoln

‘Education isn’t the filling of a pail; it’s the lighting of a fire.'

- Anonymous

“I’d rather be labeled as fake for being real than be praised as real for being fake.” – Anonymous

From “Lincoln  365,” by Arnold Kunst

August 13

‘Lincoln was a man of great compassion, but that isn’t to say he couldn’t be tough. When Kansas Senator Pomeroy, an early recipient of Lincoln’s largesse, was shown, to Lincoln’s satisfaction, to have contributed too energetically to the Chase-for-President effort [Salmon Chase, Lincoln’s brilliant Secretary of the Treasury, wanted very much to be president himself in 1864, but got other Republican figures outside the Cabinet to head up his effort], Lincoln ended the Kansan’s access to the federal gravy train.’

- Arnold Kunst

‘Rule number one in politics: a politician, once bought, either stays bought or suffers the consequences.’

- Anonymous

“Don’t compare your uniqueness to anybody else’s.” – Anonymous

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual” by Arnold Kunst

The loser is apart from.

The winner is a part of.

“You never know how it feels until it happens to you.” - Anonymous

From “Lincoln  365,” by Arnold Kunst

August 12

'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.'

- Abraham Lincoln

‘You need to distinguish between the bridges in life that need to be crossed and the others that need to be burnt.'

“You put your arms around me and I’m home.” - Anonymous

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual” by Arnold Kunst

Loving isn’t for wimps. [Neither is storming Heaven which is pretty much the same thing.]