Abraham Lincoln

Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interests....

Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what you will, is the great high-road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if…

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.

It is an old and a true maxim "that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall." So with men.

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted.

Far around as human breath has ever blown, he keeps our fathers, our brothers, our sons, and our friends prostrate in the chains of moral death....

He ever seems to have gone forth like the Egyptian angel of death, commissioned to slay, if not the first, the fairest born of every family.

What one of us but can call to mind some relative more promising in youth than all his fellows, who has fallen a sacrifice to his rapacity?

The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and generosity.

Indeed I believe, if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class.

In my judgment, such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more from the absence of appetite, than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have.

The trump of the conqueror's fame is sounding from hill to hill, from sea to sea, and from land to land, and calling millions to his standard at a blast.

The citadels of his great adversary are daily being stormed and dismantled; his temples and his altars, where the rites of his idolatrous worship have long been performed, and where human sacrifices have long been wont to be made, are…

The cause itself seems suddenly transformed from a cold abstract theory to a living, breathing, active and powerful chieftain, going forth conquering and to conquer.

To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.

If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth.

I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason--I can never be satisfied with any one who would be blockhead enough to have me.

I most emphatically, in this instance, made a fool of myself.

They were a fortress of strength; but what the invading foemen could never do, the silent artillery of time has done,--the levelling of its walls.

Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet that opportunity being passed, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would sit down…

And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his design.

It thirsts and burns for distinction; and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving free men.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Reason--cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason--must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.

Passion has helped us, but can do so no more.