The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lincoln Year Book, by Abraham Lincoln This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license Title: The Lincoln Year Book Axioms and Aphorisms from the Great Emancipator Author: Abraham Lincoln Release Date: March 19, 2012 [EBook #39204] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LINCOLN YEAR BOOK *** Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE LINCOLN YEAR BOOK [Illustration: A. Lincoln] THE LINCOLN YEAR BOOK AXIOMS AND APHORISMS FROM THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR COMPILED BY _WALLACE RICE_ COMPILER OF "THE FRANKLIN YEAR BOOK" CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1907 _Copyright, 1907, A. C. McClurg & Co._ _Published October 12, 1907_ _The Lakeside Press_ R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO _TO_ _Francis Fisher Browne_ _A FOLLOWER OF LINCOLN IN WAR AND PEACE PRINCIPLE AND PRECEPT_ _Let us have faith that right makes might_ _JANUARY_ _The dogmas of the past are inadequate to the stormy present._ _FIRST_ Always do the very best you can. _SECOND_ If our sense of duty forbids, then let us stand by our sense of duty. _THIRD_ It's no use to be always looking up these hard spots. _FOURTH_ All I am in the world, I owe to the opinion of me which the people express when they call me "Honest Old Abe." _FIFTH_ The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody is hindering him. _SIXTH_ No one has needed favors more than I. _SEVENTH_ Whatever is calculated to improve the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, I am for that thing. _EIGHTH_ All we want is time and patience. _NINTH_ I esteem foreigners as no better than other people--nor any worse. _TENTH_ My experience and observation have been that those who promise the most do the least. _ELEVENTH_ I didn't know anything about it, but I thought you knew your own business best. _TWELFTH_ If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points--not how many hairs there are in his tail. _THIRTEENTH_ You must act. _FOURTEENTH_ I will try, and do the best I can. _FIFTEENTH_ His attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he can not but work to be successful! _SIXTEENTH_ Afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life. _SEVENTEENTH_ I want Christians to pray for me; I need their prayers. _EIGHTEENTH_ The young men must not be permitted to drift away. _NINETEENTH_ The free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of the whole people beyond any example in the world. _TWENTIETH_ I shall do nothing in malice. _TWENTY-FIRST_ Good men do not agree. _TWENTY-SECOND_ I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force. _TWENTY-THIRD_ Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ I never thought he had more than average ability when we were young men together. But, then, I suppose he thought just the same about me. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ The patriotic instinct of plain people. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ The face of an old friend is like a ray of sunshine through dark and gloomy clouds. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ Will anybody do your work for you? _TWENTY-NINTH_ My rightful masters, the American people. _THIRTIETH_ Should any one in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? _THIRTY-FIRST_ The value of life is to improve one's condition. _FEBRUARY_ _Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed._ _FIRST_ Labor is like any other commodity in the market--increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it. _SECOND_ When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees. _THIRD_ I say "try," for if we never try, we never succeed. _FOURTH_ The pioneer in any movement is not generally the best man to bring that movement to a successful issue. _FIFTH_ Defeat and failure make everything seem wrong. _SIXTH_ This nation cannot live on injustice. _SEVENTH_ Something had to be done, and, as there does not appear to be any one else to do it, I did it. _EIGHTH_ Poor parsons seem always to have large families. _NINTH_ If it be true that the Lord has appointed me to do the work you have indicated, is it not probable that he would have communicated knowledge of the fact to me as well as to you? _TENTH_ I trust I shall be willing to do my duty, though it costs my life. _ELEVENTH_ I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. _TWELFTH_ What there is of me is self-made. _THIRTEENTH_ I was young once, and I am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back. _FOURTEENTH_ Thank God for not making me a woman, but if He had, I suppose He would have made me just as ugly as He did, and no one would ever have tempted me. _FIFTEENTH_ You may say anything you like about me,--if that will help. _SIXTEENTH_ No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty--none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned. _SEVENTEENTH_ As our case is new, so we must think anew. _EIGHTEENTH_ I shall do less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the cause; and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more helps the cause. _NINETEENTH_ No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. _TWENTIETH_ If I can learn God's will, I will do it. _TWENTY-FIRST_ It is the nature of the case, and no one is to blame. _TWENTY-SECOND_ Tell the whole truth. _TWENTY-THIRD_ He sticks through thick and thin,--I admire such a man. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution,--certainly would if such right were a vital one. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ My hand was tired; but my resolution was firm. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ It is a difficult role, and so much the greater will be the honor if you perform it well. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ I shall write my papers myself. The people will understand them. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ Though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill-temper. _TWENTY-NINTH_ Have confidence in yourself, a valuable if not indispensable quality. _MARCH_ _Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it._ _FIRST_ Twenty thousand is as much as any man ought to want. _SECOND_ By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never given merely to save a limb. _THIRD_ Trust to the good sense of the American people. _FOURTH_ Let us judge not, that we be not judged. _FIFTH_ Put the foot down firmly. _SIXTH_ The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. _SEVENTH_ I bring a heart true to the work. _EIGHTH_ The people will save their government, if the government itself will do its part only indifferently well. _NINTH_ Most certainly I intend no injustice to any one, and if I have done any I deeply regret it. _TENTH_ With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. _ELEVENTH_ Action in the crisis of a nation must accord with its necessities, and therefore can seldom be confined to precedent. _TWELFTH_ You can't put a long sword in a short scabbard. _THIRTEENTH_ "I have made it a rule of my life," said the old parson, "not to cross Fox River until I get to it." _FOURTEENTH_ It is sometimes well to be humble. _FIFTEENTH_ Don't let joy carry you into excesses. _SIXTEENTH_ Liberty is your birthright. _SEVENTEENTH_ If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or government will cease. _EIGHTEENTH_ Learn the laws and obey them. _NINETEENTH_ It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men. _TWENTIETH_ It is better only sometimes to be right than at all times wrong. _TWENTY-FIRST_ When you have an elephant on hand, and he wants to run away, better let him run. _TWENTY-SECOND_ Whatever God designs, He will do for me yet. _TWENTY-THIRD_ Quarrel not at all. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ Let no opportunity of making a mark escape. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ I want in all cases to do right; and most particularly so in all cases with women. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ I should rejoice to be spared the labor of a contest, but being in I shall go it thoroughly. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ I intend discourtesy to no one. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ The doctrine of self-government is right--absolutely and eternally right. _TWENTY-NINTH_ This government is expressly charged with the duty of providing for the general welfare. _THIRTIETH_ We are not bound to follow implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so would be to reject all progress, all improvement. _THIRTY-FIRST_ Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the elevation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them. _APRIL_ _The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause which we deem to be just._ _FIRST_ You can fool some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. _SECOND_ He has abundant talents--quite enough to occupy all his time without devoting any to temper. _THIRD_ I do not argue--I beseech you to make the argument for yourself. _FOURTH_ Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence? _FIFTH_ Lift artificial weights from all shoulders. _SIXTH_ The purposes of the Lord are perfect and must prevail. _SEVENTH_ Some people say they could not take very well to my proclamation, but now that I have the varioloid, I am happy to say I have something that everybody can take. _EIGHTH_ Honest statesmanship is the employment of individual meannesses for the public good. _NINTH_ Obey God's commandments. _TENTH_ Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. _ELEVENTH_ Important principles may and must be inflexible. _TWELFTH_ There is but one duty now--to fight. _THIRTEENTH_ A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. _FOURTEENTH_ This, too, shall pass away: never fear. _FIFTEENTH_ I am not afraid to die. _SIXTEENTH_ I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by. _SEVENTEENTH_ Let us strive on to finish the work we are in. _EIGHTEENTH_ Give us a little more light, and a little less noise. _NINETEENTH_ The wild lands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefiting his condition. _TWENTIETH_ 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. _TWENTY-FIRST_ There is nothing like getting used to things. _TWENTY-SECOND_ When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government--that is despotism. _TWENTY-THIRD_ If they kill me, the next will be just as bad for them. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ With Shakespeare the thought suffices. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ As to the crazy folks--why, I must take my chances. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ I think it more rare, if not more wise, for a public man to abstain from much speaking. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ At any rate, I will keep my part of the bargain. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he made so many of them. _TWENTY-NINTH_ When the time comes, I shall take the ground I think is right. _THIRTIETH_ Let the thing be pressed. _MAY_ _Two principles have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity; the other is the divine right of kings._ _FIRST_ Revolutionize through the ballot box. _SECOND_ Repeal all past history,--you still can not repeal human nature. _THIRD_ Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as other rights. _FOURTH_ Teach men that what they can not take by an election, neither can they take by war. _FIFTH_ I authorize no bargains, and will be bound by none. _SIXTH_ When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned. _SEVENTH_ If destruction be our lot, it must spring up among ourselves. _EIGHTH_ In a democracy, where the majority rule by the ballot through the forms of law, physical rebellions are radically wrong, unconstitutional, and are treason. _NINTH_ Let us be friends, and treat each other like friends. _TENTH_ If I was less thin-skinned I should get along much better. _ELEVENTH_ We will talk over the merits of the case. _TWELFTH_ Nothing shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by the American people and God. _THIRTEENTH_ Are you not over-cautious? _FOURTEENTH_ The severest justice may not always be the best policy. _FIFTEENTH_ The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible. _SIXTEENTH_ One poor man, colored though he be, with God on his side, is stronger against us than the hosts of the Rebellion. _SEVENTEENTH_ Never fear, victory will come. _EIGHTEENTH_ The Lord has not deserted me thus far, and He is not going to now. _NINETEENTH_ I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. _TWENTIETH_ Are you strong enough? _TWENTY-FIRST_ If I do not go away from here a wiser man, I shall go away a better man. _TWENTY-SECOND_ I know that liberty is right. _TWENTY-THIRD_ You must not give me the praise--it belongs to God. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ It has always been a sentiment with me that all mankind should be free. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ I don't pretend to be bright. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ It is only by the active development of events that character and ability can be tested. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ I remember a good story when I hear it, but I never invented anything original: I am only a retail dealer. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ Few men are tried, or so many would not fit their places so badly. _TWENTY-NINTH_ Preach God and liberty to the "bulls" and "bears." _THIRTIETH_ The Union is older than any of the States. _THIRTY-FIRST_ I only beg that you will not ask impossibilities of me. _JUNE_ _It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us,--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,--that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain._ _FIRST_ Let the people know the truth, and the country is safe. _SECOND_ Men moving in an official circle are apt to become merely official--not to say arbitrary. _THIRD_ Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? _FOURTH_ The Lord is always on the side of the right. _FIFTH_ If I go down, I intend to go down like the "Cumberland," with my colors flying. _SIXTH_ Killing the dog does not cure the bite. _SEVENTH_ I am nothing, but truth is everything. _EIGHTH_ Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. _NINTH_ Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do. _TENTH_ Only those generals who gain success can be dictators. _ELEVENTH_ Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? _TWELFTH_ The Patagonians open oysters and throw the shells out of the window--until the pile gets higher than the house; then they move. _THIRTEENTH_ The question of time can not and must not be ignored. _FOURTEENTH_ We must be more cheerful in the future. _FIFTEENTH_ Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. _SIXTEENTH_ Keep in your own sphere, and there will be no difficulty. _SEVENTEENTH_ If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. _EIGHTEENTH_ I am never easy, when I am handling a thought, until I have bounded it north, south, east, and west. _NINETEENTH_ Others have been made fools of by the girls, but this can never be said of me; I made a fool of myself. _TWENTIETH_ It is not best to swap horses while crossing a stream. _TWENTY-FIRST_ I can only trust in God that I have made no mistake. _TWENTY-SECOND_ It has been said of the world's history hitherto that "might makes right"; it is for us and for our times to reverse the maxim, and to show that right makes might. _TWENTY-THIRD_ I shall stay right here and do my duty. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ If we have no friends, we have no pleasure. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ I am older in years than I am in the tricks and trades of politicians. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ Our enemies want a squabble; and that they can have if we explain; and they can not have it if we don't. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ If it must be that I go down, let me go down linked to truth. _TWENTY-NINTH_ I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it. _THIRTIETH_ Let us forget errors. _JULY_ _Our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal._ _FIRST_ This country, with all its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. _SECOND_ What is the use of putting up the gap when the fence is down all around? _THIRD_ We hold the power--and bear the responsibility. _FOURTH_ My countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our charter of liberty, let me entreat you to come back. _FIFTH_ The Fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day for firecrackers. _SIXTH_ I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. _SEVENTH_ I have more pegs than holes to put them in. _EIGHTH_ The government must not undertake to run the churches. _NINTH_ All seems well with us. _TENTH_ With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. _ELEVENTH_ It is no child's play to save the principles of Jefferson from total overthrow in this nation. _TWELFTH_ If the Ship of State should suffer wreck now, it will never need another pilot. _THIRTEENTH_ Let us see what we can do. _FOURTEENTH_ I will try to go to God with my sorrows. _FIFTEENTH_ The wriggle to live, without toil, work, or labor, which I am not free from myself. _SIXTEENTH_ Persisting in a charge one does not know to be true is malicious slander. _SEVENTEENTH_ Steer from point to point--no farther than you can see. _EIGHTEENTH_ God bless the women of America! _NINETEENTH_ The churches, as such, must take care of themselves. _TWENTIETH_ There is no more dangerous or expensive analysis than that which consists of trying a man. _TWENTY-FIRST_ Answer with facts, not with arguments. _TWENTY-SECOND_ The nation is beginning a new life. _TWENTY-THIRD_ Better give your path to a dog than to be bitten by him in contesting for the right. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ Money being the object, the man having money would be the victim. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ Early impressions last longer. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ Stand with anybody who stands right, ... and part with him when he goes wrong. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ My advice is to keep cool. _TWENTY-NINTH_ If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. _THIRTIETH_ I have done just as much as, and no more than, the public knows. _THIRTY-FIRST_ Many free countries have lost their liberties and ours may lose hers; but, if she shall, be it my proudest boast, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her. _AUGUST_ _I feel that I can not succeed without the Divine blessing, and on the Almighty Being I place my reliance for support._ _FIRST_ It is not "Can any of us imagine better?" but "Can we all do better?" _SECOND_ Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. _THIRD_ Wanting to work is so rare a merit that it should be encouraged. _FOURTH_ We shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. _FIFTH_ Maintain the honor and integrity of the nation. _SIXTH_ I look to the American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them. _SEVENTH_ Secure peace through victory. _EIGHTH_ What is the influence of fashion but the influence that other people's actions have on our actions? _NINTH_ Our government rests in public opinion. _TENTH_ Posterity has done nothing for us, and, theorize on it as we may, practically we shall do very little for it unless we are made to think we are, at the same time, doing something for ourselves. _ELEVENTH_ I am glad to find a man who can go ahead without me. _TWELFTH_ If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him you are his sincere friend. _THIRTEENTH_ Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold. _FOURTEENTH_ These are not the days of miracles, and I suppose I am not to expect a direct revelation. _FIFTEENTH_ Do not mix politics with your profession. _SIXTEENTH_ The first reformer in any movement has to meet with such a hard opposition, and gets so battered and bespattered, that afterward, when people find they have to accept his reform, they will accept it more easily from another man. _SEVENTEENTH_ Versatility is an injurious possession, since it can never be greatness. _EIGHTEENTH_ A jury has too frequently at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor. _NINETEENTH_ It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subjected to the hard usages of the world. _TWENTIETH_ With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. _TWENTY-FIRST_ Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind. _TWENTY-SECOND_ We are going through with our task. _TWENTY-THIRD_ I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ Human nature will not change. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ Beware of rashness! _TWENTY-SIXTH_ It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ All should have an equal chance. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ I hope to be false to nothing you have been taught to expect of me. _TWENTY-NINTH_ All honor to Jefferson! _THIRTIETH_ It is the man who does not want to express an opinion whose opinion I want. _THIRTY-FIRST_ I hope I am a Christian. _SEPTEMBER_ _I feel that the time is coming when the sun shall shine, the rain fall, on no man who shall go forth to unrequited toil._ _FIRST_ Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration. _SECOND_ Come, let us reason together, like the honest fellows we are. _THIRD_ There is no such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. _FOURTH_ There is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. _FIFTH_ Labor is prior to and independent of capital. _SIXTH_ This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed. _SEVENTH_ Workingmen are the basis of all governments. _EIGHTH_ 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? _NINTH_ The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I. _TENTH_ How hard it is to leave one's country no better than if one had never lived in it! _ELEVENTH_ Keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. _TWELFTH_ Among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet. _THIRTEENTH_ I have done all I could for the good of mankind. _FOURTEENTH_ It is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side. _FIFTEENTH_ No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. _SIXTEENTH_ What will the country say? _SEVENTEENTH_ Mediocrity is sure of detection. _EIGHTEENTH_ Washington was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his race. _NINETEENTH_ When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion--kind, unassuming persuasion--should ever be adopted. _TWENTIETH_ If all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them full justice for their conduct during the war. _TWENTY-FIRST_ There is something ludicrous in promises of good or threats of evil a great way off. _TWENTY-SECOND_ Object whatsoever is possible, still the question recurs, "Can we do better?" _TWENTY-THIRD_ I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ God is with us. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ Intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all evils among mankind. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ When any church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Saviour's condensed statement of both law and gospel, that church will I join with all my heart and soul. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but the victory is sure to come. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ The first necessity is of proving that popular government is not an absurdity. _TWENTY-NINTH_ People seldom run unless there is something to run from. _THIRTIETH_ Allow the people to do as they please with their own business. _OCTOBER_ _Great statesmen as they (the Fathers of the Republic) were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxon white men were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began, so that truth and justice and mercy and all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built._ _FIRST_ Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. _SECOND_ You must remember that some things legally right are not morally right. _THIRD_ Mercy bears richer rewards than strict justice. _FOURTH_ No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. _FIFTH_ It is not much in the nature of man to be driven to do anything. _SIXTH_ All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my mother. _SEVENTH_ The times are too grave and perilous for ambitious schemes and personal rivalries. _EIGHTH_ Act as becomes a patriot. _NINTH_ Suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation. _TENTH_ If danger ever reaches us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. _ELEVENTH_ I can't take pay for doing my duty. _TWELFTH_ I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. _THIRTEENTH_ We had better have a friend than an enemy. _FOURTEENTH_ In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free. _FIFTEENTH_ No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. _SIXTEENTH_ There is no grievance that is a fit subject of redress by mob law. _SEVENTEENTH_ Punishment has to follow sin. _EIGHTEENTH_ Let us to the end dare to do our duty. _NINETEENTH_ Few can be induced to labor exclusively for posterity, and none will do it enthusiastically. _TWENTIETH_ It is a quality of revolutions not to go by old lines or old laws, but to break up both and make new ones. _TWENTY-FIRST_ Military glory--that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood. _TWENTY-SECOND_ Pleasures to be enjoyed, or pains to be endured, after we shall be dead and gone, are but little regarded. _TWENTY-THIRD_ Allow all the governed an equal voice in the government; that, and that alone, is self-government. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ The universal sense of mankind on any subject is an argument, or at least an influence, not easily overcome. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ Without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ Unless among those deficient of intellect, every one you trade with makes something. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ Implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that he may enlighten the nation to know and to do His will. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ We should look beyond our noses. _TWENTY-NINTH_ Labor for all now living, as well as all hereafter to live. _THIRTIETH_ I have acted upon my best convictions, without selfishness or malice. _THIRTY-FIRST_ Success does not so much depend upon external help as on self-reliance. _NOVEMBER_ _All are of the great family of men, and if there is one shackle upon any of them, it would be far better to lift the load._ _FIRST_ Men should utter nothing for which they would not be willingly responsible through time and in eternity. _SECOND_ Never mind if you are a count; you shall be treated with just as much consideration, for all that. _THIRD_ If Almighty God gives a man a cowardly pair of legs, how can he help their running away with him? _FOURTH_ It is against my principles to contest a clear matter of right. _FIFTH_ The strife of elections is but human nature applied to the facts of the case. _SIXTH_ How nobly distinguished that people who shall have planted and nurtured both the political and moral freedom of their species! _SEVENTH_ If we succeed, there will be glory enough. _EIGHTH_ Office seekers are a curse to the country. _NINTH_ Justice to all. _TENTH_ It must be somebody's business. _ELEVENTH_ Every man has a right to be equal to every other man. _TWELFTH_ Happy day, when, all appetites controlled, all passions subdued, all matter subjugated, mind, conquering mind, shall live and move, the monarch of the world! _THIRTEENTH_ We will be remembered in spite of ourselves. _FOURTEENTH_ I don't know anything about money. I never had enough of my own to fret me. _FIFTEENTH_ Heal the wounds of the nation. _SIXTEENTH_ I am not at liberty to shift my ground, that is out of the question. _SEVENTEENTH_ For thirty years I have been a temperance man, and I am too old to change. _EIGHTEENTH_ The heart is the great highroad to man's reason. _NINETEENTH_ Hope to all the world for all future time. _TWENTIETH_ The young men must not wait to be brought forward by the older men. _TWENTY-FIRST_ Hold firm as a chain of steel. _TWENTY-SECOND_ One war at a time. _TWENTY-THIRD_ I did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I bent my musket pretty badly. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ Meet face to face and converse together--the best way to efface unpleasant feeling. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ And now for a day of Thanksgiving! _TWENTY-SIXTH_ The influence of fashion is not confined to any particular thing or class of things. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ Before I resolve to do the one thing or the other, I must gain my confidence in my own ability to keep my resolves when they are made. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ Such of us as have never fallen victims to intemperance have been spared more from the absence of appetite than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have. _TWENTY-NINTH_ Our political revolution of 1776 was the germ that has vegetated, and still is to grow into the universal liberty of mankind. _THIRTIETH_ By mutual concessions we should harmonize and act together. _DECEMBER_ _Teach hope to all--despair to none._ _FIRST_ Rise up to the height of a generation of free men worthy of a free government. _SECOND_ Let us be quite sober. _THIRD_ We prefer a candidate who will allow the people to have their own way, regardless of his private opinion. _FOURTH_ The people's will is the ultimate law for all. _FIFTH_ I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance of saving the ship. _SIXTH_ My gratitude is free from all sense of personal triumph. _SEVENTH_ How to do something, and not to do too much, is the desideratum. _EIGHTH_ We mean to be as deliberate and calm as it is possible to be; but as firm and resolved as it is possible for men to be. _NINTH_ He that will fight to keep himself a slave, ought to be a slave. _TENTH_ If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. _ELEVENTH_ Under all this seeming want of life and motion, the world does move nevertheless. _TWELFTH_ I shall never be old enough to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to talk about. _THIRTEENTH_ It adds nothing to my satisfaction that another man shall be disappointed. _FOURTEENTH_ Take your full time. _FIFTEENTH_ I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. _SIXTEENTH_ The man and the dollar, but, in case of conflict, the man before the dollar. _SEVENTEENTH_ The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. _EIGHTEENTH_ We can see the past, though we may not claim to have directed it; and seeing it, we feel more hopeful and confident for the future. _NINETEENTH_ Squirming and crawling around can do no good. _TWENTIETH_ I wish to see all men free. _TWENTY-FIRST_ Let them laugh, so long as the thing works well. _TWENTY-SECOND_ Let there be peace. _TWENTY-THIRD_ The age is not yet dead. _TWENTY-FOURTH_ With malice toward none, with charity for all. _TWENTY-FIFTH_ Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country. _TWENTY-SIXTH_ Be hopeful. _TWENTY-SEVENTH_ Let not him who is homeless pull down the house of another. _TWENTY-EIGHTH_ The struggle for to-day is not altogether for to-day--it is for a vast future. _TWENTY-NINTH_ We can not escape history. _THIRTIETH_ We here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom; and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. _THIRTY-FIRST_ Let us dare to do our duty as we understand it. * * * * * _Uniform with this Volume_ THE FRANKLIN YEAR BOOK. 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