“Force is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the second it crushes, the first it intoxicates. The truth is, nobody really possesses it.” - Simone Weil

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst

May 29

“The presidential campaign of 1860 that elected Lincoln for the first time ‘completely failed to do what a political campaign is supposed to do – bring the nation to a full awareness and earnest discussion of its most crucial issues and lead to a verdict that would put those issues on the way toward settlement. There had been nothing even resembling an attempt by reasonable men to analyze a baffling problem and see what could be done about it… The election would be a shock which could benefit no one but the extremists on both sides.” - Bruce Catton