Abraham Lincoln

But I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.

But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.

It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.

It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time.

I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together.

I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.

I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in and were given to the world from this hall.

I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live.

I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that these men struggled for.

The crossing of the river, the contest with the Hessians, the great hardships endured at that time,--all fixed themselves upon my memory more than any single Revolutionary event; and you all know, for you have all been boys, how those…

As a rule, I think it better that Congress should originate as well as perfect its measures without external bias.

My political education strongly inclines me against a very free use of any of the means by the Executive to control the legislation of the country.

We should do neither more nor less than we gave the people reason to believe we would when they gave us their votes.

One party insists that too much protection oppresses one class for the advantage of another; while the other party argues that, with all its incidents, in the long run all classes are benefited.

Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this great nation continue to prosper as heretofore.

If the great American people only keep their temper on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled, just as surely as all other difficulties of a like character…

When I do speak, I hope I may say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which will prove inimical to the liberties of the people or to the peace of the whole country.

I turn then, and look to the great American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them.

What mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country, with its people, by merely calling it a State?

On what rightful principle may a State, being not more than one-fiftieth part of the nation in soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a proportionally larger subdivision of itself in the most arbitrary way?

I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and ruin all which is larger than itself.

In their view, the Union as a family relation would seem to be no regular marriage, but a sort of free-love arrangement to be maintained only on passional attraction.

Let us get exact definitions of these words, not from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly deprecate the things they would represent by the use of words.

Solomon says "there is a time to keep silence," and when men wrangle by the mouth with no certainty that they mean the same thing while using the same word, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence.

Trusting in Him, who can go with me and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.