Abraham Lincoln

In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates Lincoln did not hesitate to dispel the notion that he was a champion of racial equality: I will say then that I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes nor of qualifying them to hold office nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty and the American people just now are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. 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 mens labor. Here are two not only different but incompatible things called by the same name liberty. And it follows that each of the things is by the respective parties called by two different and incompatible names liberty and tyranny.

... peace is a thing which a person must be willing to fight for ...

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser in fees expenses and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

I claim not to have controlled events but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

I had been told I was on the road to hell but I had no idea it was just a mile down the road with a dome on it.

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first the lesson afterward. And in the end its not the years in your life that count. Its the life in your years.

The best gift God has given man is the Bible. It is by all odds the most influential book (or rather collection of books) in existence. The Old and New Testaments have held men together spiritually through the centuries. Three hundred and fifty years ago in 1611 fifty four devoted English scholars and churchmen assigned to the task by King James I gave to the English speaking world a monument of noble prose on which so many of us have been brought up. The Bible has been translated into more than 1150 languages. In short the Bible has had the most dramatic career of any book in the world.

I care not much for a mans religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesnt make it a leg.