Abraham Lincoln: “And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary…”

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.

As a general rule I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.

Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps towards it, than by running backward over them?