Teach the children so it will not be necessary to teach the adults.
Let us strive on to finish the work we are in.
As an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left to borrow from – so must it be with a government.
There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite.
I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement I have the best of the bargain.
You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm.
It is not merely for to-day, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children’s children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives.
I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.
I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.
My God! My God! What will the country say?
War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible.
These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people, and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people’s money to settle the quarrel.
I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day, as each day came.
The trouble with too many people is they believe the realm of truth always lies within their vision.
Reputation is like fine china: Once broken it’s very hard to repair.
Every blade of grass is a study; and to produce two, where there was but one, is both a profit and a pleasure.
I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.
I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I am. None who would do more to preserve it.
I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.