Abraham Lincoln
16th President
(1861-1865) | | 
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Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time. 'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. "A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gal." So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey which catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the highroad to his reason. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow. | |
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