John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Abraham Linoln 1809-1865 John Bartlett
| 1 | |
| I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. | |
| Speech, June 16, 1858. | |
| 2 | |
| Nobody has ever expected me to be president. In my poor, lean lank face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting. | |
| Campaign Speech against Douglas. 1 | |
| 3 | |
| Truth is generally the best vindication against slander. | |
| Remark made when requested to dismiss Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General. | |
| 4 | |
| I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. | |
| Letter to Mrs. Bixby of Boston, who lost five sons killed in battle. Nov. 21, 1864. | |
| 5 | |
| Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it. | |
| Address, Cooper Union, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860. | |
| 6 | |
| Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? | |
| First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861. | |
| 7 | |
| In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free,—honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. | |
| Second Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 1, 1862. | |
| 8 | |
| I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. | |
| Letter to Horace Greeley, Aug. 22, 1862. | |
| 9 | |
| Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories. | |
| Letter to Major-General Joseph Hooker, Jan. 25, 1863. | |
| 10 | |
| That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 2 | |
| Speech at Gettysburg, Nov. 19, 1863. | |
| 11 | |
| It is not best to swap horses while crossing the river. | |
| Reply to National Union League, June 9, 1864. | |
| 12 | |
| The Almighty has his own purposes. | |
| Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865. | |
| 13 | |
| Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two-hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” | |
| Second Inaugural Address. March 4, 1865. | |
| 14 | |
| With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, 3 let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. | |
| Second Inaugural Address. March 4, 1865. | |
| 15 | |
| Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. | |
| Letters to Thurlow Weed, March 14, 1865. | |
| 16 | |
| You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. | |
| Remark attributed to Lincoln. |
| Note 1. They have seen in his [Douglas’s] round, jolly fruitful face, post-offices, land-offices, marshalships and cabinet-appointments, charge-ships and foreign missions, bursting out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their greedy hands. Ibid. [back] |
| Note 2. See Daniel Webster, page 532. [back] |
| Note 3. See J. Q. Adams, page 458. [back] |