Lincoln and the power of words 13

'This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave must consent to have no slave.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and the power of words 12

‘There is more involved in this contest than is realized by everyone. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed.’

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and the power of words 11

'The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and the power of words 10

'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

Lincoln and the power of words 9

'… that is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles - right and wrong - throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and the power of words 8

'I am not ashamed to confess that 25 years ago I was a hired laborer hauling rails at work on a flatboat - just what might happen to any poor man's son. I want every man to have a chance.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and the power of words 7

'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