Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

There is nothing true anywhere, The true is nowhere to be seen; If you say you see the true, This seeing is not the true one.

Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told; and as whatever of humilation there is in it, falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it.

We think slavery a great moral wrong, and while we do not claim the right to touch it where it exists, we wish to treat it as a wrong in the territories, where our votes will reach it.

Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views, and boldest action to bring it speedy relief.

I am struggling to maintain the government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it.

Thus let bygones be bygones. Let past differences, as nothing be.