The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not whether it have any evil in it; but

whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. Allow me to assure you, that suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation. In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it. So long as I have been here I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much. I ... ran for Legislature [in 1832] ... and was beatenthe only time I have been beaten by the people. If the union of these States, and the liberties of this people, shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States, and to their posterity in all coming time. What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried? Our down East friends, did, indeed, treat me with great kindness, demonstrating what I before believed, that all good, intelligent people are very much alike. My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age; and he grew up, literally without education. I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burthens. The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions. 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. In the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the sacredness of your sorrow, I have ventured to address you this tribute to the memory of my young friend, and your brave and early fallen child. May God give you that consolation which is beyond all earthly power. Every head should be cultivated. I never did ask more, nor ever was willing to accept less, than for all the States, and the people thereof, to take and hold their places, and their rights, in the Union, under the Constitution of the United States. For this alone have I felt authorized to struggle; and I seek neither more nor less now. A right result, at this time, will be worth more to the world, than ten times the men, and ten times the money. I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do more than I can, and I shall do all I can to save the government, which is my sworn duty as well as my personal inclination. I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party.

 Remembering that when not a very great man begins to be mentioned for a very great position, his head is very likely to be a little turned, I concluded I am not the fittest person to answer the questions you ask. You have constantly urged the idea that you were persecuted because you did not come from West-Point, and you repeat it in these letters. This, my dear general, is I fear, the rock on which you have split. I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever [I] hear anyone, arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. The ballot is stronger than the bullet. I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing, that no man desires for himself. The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them. I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain success, can set up dictators. Gen. Schurz thinks I was a little cross in my late note to you. If I was, I ask pardon. If I do get up a little temper I have no sufficient time to keep it up. It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its own existence, in great emergencies. If there is ANY THING which it is the duty of the WHOLE PEOPLE to never entrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity, of their own liberties, and institutions. If I fail, it will be for lack of ability, and not of purpose. I hold the value of life is to improve one's condition. Whatever is calculated to advance the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, so far as my judgment will enable me to judge of a correct thing, I am for that thing. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men.... Fair play is a jewell [sic]. Give him a chance if you can. We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. We want, and must have, a national policy, as to slavery, which deals with it as being wrong. [With the Union saved] its form of government is saved to the world; its beloved history, and cherished memories, are vindicated; and its happy future fully assured, and rendered inconceivably grand. and then, the negro being doomed, and damned, and forgotten, to everlasting bondage, is the white man quite certain that the tyrant demon will not turn upon him too? We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. I have just read your dispatch about sore tongued and fatiegued [sic] horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietem that fatigue anything?

 I wish to see, in process of disappearing, that only thing which ever could bring this nation to civil war. Holding myself the humblest of all whose names were before the convention, I feel in especial need of the assistance of all. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what you will, is the great high-road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause. You may have a wen or a cancer upon your person and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death; but surely it is no way to cure it, to engraft it and spread it over your whole body. When I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three.... The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. The matter of fees is important, far beyond the mere question of bread and butter involved. Properly attended to, fuller justice is done to both lawyer and client. I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known. Beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories. These men ask for just the same thingfairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have. Peter F. Drucker - Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. George Bernard Shaw - A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. Jonathan Swift - Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought. Dwight Eisenhower - Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all. Mahatma Gandhi - The future depends on what we do in the present. Victor Hugo - Inspiration and genius -- one and the same. George Eliot - Do we not all agree to call rapid thought and noble impulse by the name of inspiration? Ralph Waldo Emerson - Every artist was first an amateur. Henry David Thoreau - If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. Ralph Waldo Emerson - No great man ever complains of want of opportunities. Stephen W. Hawking - It matters if you just don't give up. Wayne Dyer - Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice. Andrew Carnegie - People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. Thomas Jefferson - Every generation needs a new revolution. Confucius - Wherever you go, go with all your heart. Ralph Waldo Emerson - What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

 Thomas Alva Edison - If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. Thomas Edison - Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Ann Landers - Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat. Nature and wisdom never are at strife. Plutarch It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves. - Francois De La Rochefoucauld The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook. - William James The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. Solomon Ibn Gabriol Years teach us more than books. - Berthold Auerbach The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs,which are brief and pithy. William Penn The middle course is the best. - Cleobulus The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom. - Thomas Huxley A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, a fool by his own. Latin Proverb Silence does not always mark wisdom. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge. No man was ever wise by chance. - Seneca Not to know at large of things remote From use, obscure and subtle, but to know That which before us lies in daily life, Is the prime wisdom. - John Milton By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself. Menander The seat of knowledge is in the head, of wisdom, in the heart. William Hazlitt Of all parts of wisdom the practice is the best. - John Tillotson The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shore line of wonder. Ralph W. Sockman The more a man knows, the more he forgives. - Catherine the Great A loving heart is the truest wisdom. - Charles Dickens One who understands much displays a greater simplicity of character than one who understands little. - Alexander Chase How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise! - Homer On every thorn, delightful wisdom grows, In every rill a sweet instruction flows. - Edward Young The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid. Confucius Let men be wise by instinct if they can, but when this fails be wise by good advice. - SOPHOCLES, Antigone There are many gates to the house of wisdom. - EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. Being still, looking, and listening activates the non-conceptual intelligence within you. Let stillness direct your words and actions. ECKHART TOLLE, Stillness Speaks Like water in the desert is wisdom to the soul. - EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims

 Memory is the mother of all wisdom. - AESCHYLUS, Prometheus Bound The kind of man who always thinks that he is right, that his opinions, his pronouncements, are the final word, when once exposed shows nothing there. But a wise man has much to learn without a loss of dignity. SOPHOCLES, Antigone Wisdom is a treasure, the key whereof is never lost. - EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims Second thoughts are ever wiser. - EURIPIDES, Hippolytus Full wise is he that can himself know. - GEOFFREY CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it. - HERMANN HESSE, Siddhartha Wisdom is the never-failing granary of thought. - EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims Wisdom and folly are equal before the face of Infinity, for Infinity knows them not. - LEONID ANDREYEV, "Lazarus" There's little comfort in the wise. - RUPERT BROOKE, Tiare Tahiti Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. -WILLIAM COWPER, The Task Never, no, never did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say another. EDMUND BURKE, Letters on a Regicide Peace It is because the old have forgotten life that they preach wisdom. - PHILIP MOELLER, Helena's Husband Wisdom consists in being able to distinguish among dangers and make a choice of the least harmful. - NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, The Prince Of all the forms of wisdom, hindsight is by general consent the least merciful, the most unforgiving. - JOHN FLETCHER, intro, Jean-Claude Favez's Holocaust What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU, Emile A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence. DAVID HUME, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding In youth men are apt to write more wisely than they really know or feel; and the remainder of life may be not idly spent in realizing and convincing themselves of the wisdom which they uttered long ago. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, preface, The Snow-Image A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. WILLIAM BLAKE, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Knowledge is flour, but wisdom is bread. - AUSTIN O'MALLEY, Keystones of Thought The road to true wisdom has seldom been spanned by mortals. EDWARD COUNSEL, Maxims Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom. - DAN BROWN, Angels & Demons Wisdom comes only through suffering. - AESCHYLUS, Agamemnon The first and wisest of them all professed To know this only, that he nothing knew. - JOHN MILTON, Paradise Regained Man's highest blessedness, In wisdom chiefly stands; And in the things that touch upon the Gods, 'Tis best in word or deed To shun unholy pride; Great

words of boasting bring great punishments, And so to grey-haired age Teach wisdom at the last. - SOPHOCLES, Antigone You may not have very much sense. But if you have enough to keep your mouth shut and look wise, it will not be long before you acquire a wide reputation as a fountain of Wisdom. - ROBERT ELLIOTT GONZALES, Poems and Paragraphs Justice without wisdom is impossible. - JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, Short Studies on Great Subjects The wealth of mankind is the wisdom they leave. - JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY, "Rules of the Road" The wise may find in trifles light as atoms in the air, some useful lesson to enrich the mind. - JOHN GODFREY SAXE, "King Solomon and the Bees" The wise man hath his thoughts in his head; the fool, on his tongue. If we drink from the fountain of wisdom, We thirst for its waters e'ermore. ARDELIA COTTON BARTON, Thoughts Few and precious are the words which the lips of Wisdom utter: To what shall their rarity be likened? What prices shall count their worth? Perfect, and much to be desired, and giving joy with riches, No lovely thing on earth can picture their fair beauty. They be chance pearls, flung among the rocks by the sullen waters of Oblivion. - MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, Proverbial Philosophy Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. - ALFRED TENNYSON There is no man ... however wise, who has not at some period of his youth said things, or lived a life, the memory of which is so unpleasant to him that he would gladly expunge it. And yet he ought not entirely to regret it, because he cannot be certain that he has indeed become a wise man -- so far as it is possible for any of us to be wise -- unless he has passed through all the fatuous or unwholesome incarnations by which that ultimate stage must be preceded. - MARCEL PROUST, Within a Budding Grove Wisdom grows in quiet places. AUSTIN O'MALLEY, Keystones of Thought It's a beautiful thing, the blossoming of Wisdom. Like a flower in spring. MICHAEL RUDD, Clothes for their Souls When wisdom leaves the house folly enters it. -EDWARD COUNSEL Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good. GABRIEL GARCA MRQUEZ, Love in the Time of Cholera It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: The music is nothing if the audience is deaf. - WALTER LIPPMANN, A Preface to Morals A man remains ignorant because he loves ignorance, and chooses ignorant thoughts; a man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts. - JAMES ALLEN, Above Life's Turmoil How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise! - HOMER, The Odyssey Folly is like the growth of weeds, always luxurious and spontaneous; wisdom, like flowers, requires cultivation. - HOSEA BALLOU No man has all the wisdom in the world; everyone has some. EDGAR WATSON HOWE, Country Town Sayings Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already. BALTASAR GRACIAN, The Art of Worldly Wisdom The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure. - WILLIAM BLAKE, Proverbs of Hell Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise. -THOMAS GRAY, Odes on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

 Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.-Mahatma Gandhi Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. Hate the sin, love the sinner. Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress. Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers. I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. I want freedom for the full expression of my personality. In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence. It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest mighterr. One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always. You must be the change you want to see in the world. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

 Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.