Monday, February 29, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 21


In early 1860 during what turned out to be a spectacular speaking tour of New England, Lincoln was approached by the Reverend Mr. Gulliver who told him how impressed he was with the talk he had just heard Lincoln deliver. Lincoln was somewhat taken aback by such fulsome praise, so he asked him what he found so remarkable about his speech. Gulliver replied, ‘The cleanness of your statements, the unanswerable style of your reasoning, and, especially, your illustrations, which were romance and pathos and fun and logic all welded together.’


Saturday, February 27, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 20

'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.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 19

'Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 18

'We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.'
- Abraham Lincoln


Sunday, February 21, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 17

'We have as all will agree a free Government where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Friday, February 19, 2016

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 15

'Thoughtful men must feel that the fate of civilization upon this continent is involved in the issue of our contest.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Monday, February 15, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 14


'Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 13

'This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave must consent to have no slave.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 12

‘There is more involved in this contest than is realized by everyone. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed.’
- Abraham Lincoln


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 11


'The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 10


'The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Friday, February 5, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 9

'… that is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles - right and wrong - throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 8


'I am not ashamed to confess that 25 years ago I was a hired laborer hauling rails at work on a flatboat - just what might happen to any poor man's son. I want every man to have a chance.'
- Abraham Lincoln

Monday, February 1, 2016

Lincoln and the power of words 7

'I never went to school more than six months in my life, but I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand...  I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, trying to make out what was the exact meaning of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, although I tried to, when I got on such a hunt for an idea until I had caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me; for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded it north and bounded it south, and bounded it east and bounded it west.'
- Abraham Lincoln