In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.

I could as easily bail out the Potomac River with a teaspoon as attend to all the details of the army.

To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a worthy object of any good government.

You cannot fail unless you quit.

Persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should be adopted to influence the conduct of men. The opposite course would be a reversal of human nature, which is God's decree and can never be reversed.

It is rather for us here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.

I wish all men to be free. I wish the material prosperity of the already free which I feel sure the extinction of slavery would bring.