Abraham Lincoln’s Characters – the words Lincoln lived by

He likes to describe himself as an ordinary man who made the most of himself. As a young man, he was anything but refined. But all that changed with the time, and the beauty of the Lincoln story is watching him grow in depth of his character. Lincoln became a genuine hero, something greater than being rich, famous, or powerful. His heroism involved sacrifice, generosity, bravery, and a vision that would transform America. He recognized the great power of words, which can produce light in the most unlikely places. The words of the Declaration of Independence, written by a man he considered his spiritual father – Thomas Jefferson, defined Lincoln, stirred him, and helped make him who he was. He gradually became a master of words himself. In fact, no American President has ever used words more effectively. Years later, when he was invited to the dedication of the military cemetery at Gettysburg, he included an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence in his famous address when he reaffirmed that all men are created equal.

Determination
Lincoln believed failure, like success, comes from within. The ability to succeed depends on the strength of one’s own determination. Lincoln’s thoughts on determination have a metaphysical flavor. If you truly want something, you should act as if the object of your desire is already on its way to you. For example, if your goal is to become a lawyer, visualize yourself as a lawyer and you will be well on your way to achieving that dream. Seeing it happen, Lincoln believed, is the way to make it happen. In the process of seeing it mentally and felt the end, you begin to will the means to the realization of the end. You are visualizing the end and creating the means in mind for its manifestation. You will always receive what you actually expect. Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln’s lawyer friend and confidant recalled Lincoln’s conviction that he would one day become President: “It seems to him manifest destiny. ‘I will get there,’ he would say, seemingly in the fullest confidence of realizing his prediction.”

Courage
“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.” Lincoln’s personal friend and fellow lawyer, Joseph Gillespie, observed that “he was brave without being rash and never refrained from giving utterance to his views because they were unpopular or likely to bring him into danger. Courage is what one calls on in spite of fear of danger or fear of failure. Lincoln stated in a speech in 1839: “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it will not deter me.”

Honesty
“I have always wanted to deal with everyone I meet candidly and honestly.” Lincoln was emphatic on this point: “Resolve to be honest at all events.”

Morality
“The true rule, in determining to embrace or reject any thing, is not whether it has any evil in it; but whether is has more of evil than of good. There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost every thing is an inseparable compound of the two so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.”

Patience / Timing
“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. No good object can be frustrated by taking time.” By temperament Lincoln was a patient man, capable of bearing long delay and waiting for the right moment. Charles A. Dane, assistant secretary of war, remembered him as man who never was in hurry, and who never tried to hurry anybody. “I will go just so fast and only so fast as I think I’m right and the people are ready for the step.”

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. We must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” Like all the successful leaders, he grasped the importance of timing. His very election as President relied on it; had he run four years earlier, the newly formed Republican Party would have been to weak and too unknown to win the race. Speaker of the White House said, “He always waited, as a wise man should wait, until the right moment brought up his reserves.”

Friends believed that this philosophy helped him bear his personal misfortunes as well as agony of the Civil War. “What is to be will be and no cares of ours can arrest nor reverse the decree.”

He observed as a lawyer and a politician that forcing an issue often spoiled a desired outcome. He came to the conclusion that political and legal processes, like flowers and trees, followed a natural sequence of development. Lincoln said, “A man watches his pear-tree day by day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap!”

. . . . Lincoln listened to all the arguments and concluded that the time had not come for such a move. Not yet. As a master strategist, he realized that many ideas fail not because they are bad ideas, but because they are broached at the wrong time. There were other factors in Lincoln’s decision. He reasoned that European nations, which were closely watching events in America, might conclude that Emancipation Proclamation was a desperate act by a government that had lost control. With Union forces suffering one defeat after another, that analysis would have been understandable. Lincoln realized he should wait for a victory, and when Union forces had finally repulsed the Confederate army at Antietam, Lincoln decided that the time had come. When the proclamation finally went into effect, morals remained high and, in fact, increased dramatically.

Magnanimity
“With malice toward none. . . .” The Gospel admonition “Bless them that curse you” was one of the principles he lived by.

Time Management
An early acquaintance remembered the first time he saw Lincoln with his stepbrother, John Johnston, he would pick talkative, outgoing Johnston to become the success. However Lincoln career was marked by steady growth, while Johnston could never get his life together. Lincoln wrote: “. . .They deceive nobody but yourself.”

It was imperative to make the most of every moment. Idleness was dangerous because it could lead to other vices. Make rest a necessity, not an objective. Only rest long enough to gather strength. If we rest too long, the weeds will surely take over the garden. The erosion of our values begins immediately whenever we are at rest. That’s why we must make rest a necessity, not an objective.

Momentum is really our best friend. Sometimes it’s the only difference between winning and losing. If we have no momentum, even the simplest tasks can seem to be insurmountable problems. Getting started is a struggle, but once you’re moving forward, you can really start to do amazing things. With enough momentum, nearly any kind of achievement is possible. Momentum puts victory within reach.

There is a time and a place for everything. There are times to act and times to reflect. Most of us don’t take the time for serious reflection. With our busy schedules we often neglect this crucial part of the formula for success. Take time to review, ponder, and reflect on everything that has happened in your life. In studying our lives be sure to study our failures as well as our successes. Our so-called failures serve us well when they teach us valuable lessons. Often, they’re better teachers than our successes.

Work
His father saw Abraham as an idler who preferred reading than physical labor. Because his narrow conception of work did not include intellectual labor. Later the son joked to a friend that his father taught him to work, but he never taught him to love it. Lincoln turned his energies to labor that, while different, was just as demanding: studying, visualizing, conceptualizing, problem-solving, and planning.

Diligence
No other principle comes closer to accounting for Lincoln’s success than diligence. Those who are diligent work steadily. They pay unremitting attention to the task at hand. They are careful. Still, diligence encompasses more than just work. It involves how a person works. It was a term with which Lincoln became familiar in his childhood reading: Idleness and sloth are dangerous, but diligence is a great virtue. Like Franklin, Lincoln’s diligence and mindfulness became legendary. The care that Lincoln consistently applied to his work can be seen even in his handwriting. The patient inquiry into details, the eager longing to know and do exactly what was just and right, the intensive working day, plodding, laborious devotion.
Lincoln recommended forming the habit of diligence: “The leading rule for the lawyer as for the man of every calling is diligence. Living nothing for tomorrow, which can be done today.”

Curiosity
“I knew of nothing so pleasant to the mind, as the discovery of anything that is at once new and valuable.” Everything that he saw, read, or heard added to the store of his information because he thought upon it. No truth was too small to escape his observation, and no problem too intricate to escape a solution, if it was capable of being solved.

Vision
Great leaders are visionary thinker. They envision a future that can be achieved and they communicate this vision to their follower. Lincoln’s skill as a visionary was profound. “I can see that time is coming – whoever can wait for it will see it – whoever stands in its will be run over by it.” In his memorable “House Devided” speech he predicted that the nation would eventually become one or the other – a statement that many believed cost him his Senate bid. When they told him so, Lincoln replied: “Gentlemen, you may think that speech was a mistake, but I never have believed it was, and you will see the day when you will consider it wisest thing I ever said.”

In order to understand the world around him, Lincoln relied mainly on close observation and the relation between cause and effect. “There were no accidents. Every effect had its cause.” Once Lincoln had a sense of where events were moving, he positioned himself so to take advantage of the movement. His friend Leonard Swett observed: “His tactics were to get himself in the right place and remain there still, until events would find him in that place.

Assertiveness
Lincoln looked for military leaders who were as assertive as he was. He found an answer in Ulysses S. Grant, a general who had experienced stunning successes at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. But when Grant met with near disaster at Shiloh, he became enormously unpopular with the public. A journalist was with Lincoln when he decided Grant’s fate. He sat before the open fire in the old Cabinet room, most of the time with his feet upon on the high marble mantel. Lincoln reminded silent for what seemed a very long time. He then gathered himself up in his chair and said in a tone of earnestness: “I can’t spare this man; he fights.”

Tenacity
“I suspect to maintain this contest until successful or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress forsakes me.” Lincoln believed that sticking to a decision, once made, would strengthen individual. He saw the human will as a muscle that becomes powerful through exercise, but can becomes flabby and weak through lack of use. “Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret in all your life. Therefore stick to your purpose.

Self-Preservation
I have found that when one is embarrassed, usually the shortest way to get through with it is to quit talking about it or thinking about it, and go at something else. Lincoln certainly had his shares of unhappy experiences. Often they plunged him into depression so severe that his friends feared for him. Gradually, though, he discovered what to do when he was rejected, belittled, or attacked. He taught himself to view failures as experiences to learn from instead of disasters to be brooded over. He would retreat within himself using withdrawal period to gather his power. His secretary John G. Nicolay observed that when official business had ended, the President would shut the door and would sometimes sit for an hour in complete silence, his eyes almost shut.” By looking inward, he found the strength to continue. The famed Civil War historian and novelist Shelby Foote concluded, “Lincoln was his own psychiatrist.” Perhaps the most important was Lincoln’s growing ability to validate himself. He had no desperate need for others’ praise to be self-confident. That knowledge came from within.

Search for superior knowledge within you. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. That is a truth! You will look inside and recognize the guidance within. You will stop living by someone else’s thoughts and values and you will stop looking for your reflection in the eyes of others. You are coming home to your true self. You enjoy the freedom to be yourself and to be true to yourself. You develop what it called firmness of character. The firmness of character is to act on one’s belief.

Self-Reliance
A great leader is assertive, and he was confident in his calm decisiveness. The strong individuals Lincoln selected for his cabinet at first thought he was too weak for the job. Friends of his secretary of state, William H. Seward were boasting that Seward would rule Lincoln. The President replied, “I may not rule myself, but certainly Seward will not. The only ruler I have is my conscience – following God in it and these men will have to learn that yet.”
Justice
He knew justice must be tempered by compassion. The challenge was to find the right balance. Justice without cruelty was his goal.

Influence
“If you would win a man to your course, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause.” Persuade, he advised. Don’t ridicule or humiliate if you wish to change people’s behavior. They must be convinced that you have their best interests at heart. Persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should be adopted.”

Responsibility
“I am here; I must do the best I can, and bear the responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take.” He shouldered the blame during the long, dangerous years of the Civil War when his advisers bickered, his generals blundered, and Union forces suffered one disastrous defeat after another. However, whenever his men were successful, he gave them the credit.

Communication
“I determined to be so clear that no honest man could misunderstood me and no dishonest one could successfully misinterpret me.” His strength lay in explaining complex ideas accurately and clearly. He advised William Herndon: “Don’t shoot to high – aim lower and the common people will understand you. They are the ones you want to reach – at least they are the ones you ought to reach. The educated and refined people will understand you any way. If you aim too high your ideas will go over the head of the masses, and only hit those who need no hitting.”

Lincoln deliberately chose illustrations and words that ordinary people could understand. After he became President, he decided to use the word “sugar coated” in one of his official statements. The public printer respectfully suggested that the President choose a more refined expression. Lincoln replied: “That term express precisely my idea, and I am not going to change it.”

He carefully studied and thought out the best way of saying everything as well as the substance of what he should say. This meant taking into account who his audience was and how much they could understand. His rejection of what it called fine writing was as deliberate because he felt that he was speaking on a substance which must be made clear to the lowest intellect. As communicator he liberally utilized stories and anecdotes, colloquial expression, symbols, and imaginary in order to influence and persuade his audience.

Focus
He realized that the world greatest achievers were totally immersed in their respective subjects. In his quest to gain deep knowledge Lincoln sought out the finest teachers available. When he was President, his cabinet was made up of some of the nation’s most gifted individuals. One of them, William Henry Seward from New York, had been state’s governor and U.S. senator. A college graduate who had traveled extensively, Seward had experience that Lincoln lacked. Lincoln responded to Seward’s superior knowledge by asking for instruction. Many a Sunday, Seward would come over to the White House at the President’s invitation to tutor him. It was this kind of tactic that enabled a man with less than a year’s schooling to survive as the leader of the nation. He believed he could learn anything he needed to know.

Compromise
While Lincoln’s strength of character and principle were unshakable, he was nonetheless a first-rate compromiser. Lincoln understood that compromise is necessary in everyday life. His experience as a lawyer in some five thousand cases thought him that often half a loaf is better than no loaf at all. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. The nominal winner is often a real loser – in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a state legislator, Lincoln acquired the ability to deal with individuals who had widely different interests, motives, and agendas. As a wartime President Lincoln worked out one compromise after another to hold the nation together until victory could be achieved. He once commented that he had a gift for keeping discordant individuals and groups together.

Flexibility
“I will try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I will adopt new views so fast as they appear to be the right views.” If convincing new evidence appeared, Lincoln would change his position, even break a promise. Many people sincerely believe that promises must always be kept, no matter what. Not Lincoln. “Bad promises are better broken than kept, if keeping the bad promises is adverse to the public interest.” He stated.

On one occasion, a friend of Lincoln’s came into the room while the President was being shaved. The two chatted about several matters, and then the visitor commented, “Mr. Lincoln, if anybody had told me that in a general crisis like this the people were going out to a little one-horse town to pick out a one-horse lawyer for President, I wouldn’t believed it.” Lincoln response was so vigorous that at first his friend thought he was angry. Whirling about in his chair, his face white with lather, the President swept the barber aside and answered, “Neither would I; but it was a time when a man with a policy would have been fatal to the country. I have never had a policy; I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day as each came.”

Simplicity
“Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.” Certain self-made men become pompous or inaccessible with the advent of power or wealth. Not Lincoln. Judge David Davis, who had known Lincoln as a young lawyer, described him as the most simple and unostentatious of men in his habits, having few wants, and those easily supplied. When an acquaintance called him “Mr. President,” Lincoln stopped him, “Call me Lincoln. Mr. President is entirely too formal for us.” On one occasion when he was treated rather brusquely, he chuckled that there was no smell of royalty about his presidency. Lincoln appearance and style of dressing also reflected his lack of pretension.

Energy
His speech was full of fire and energy force.

Tact
Lincoln became the most tactful of men but the youthful Lincoln was often anything but tactful. Fellow Lawyer Abram Bergen remembered, “His tact was remarkable. He carefully studied and thought out the best way of saying everything, as well as the substance of what he should say.” Lincoln learned to use tactics that were appropriate to each individual. He could turn away an opponent’s wrath with just the right word, anecdote, or action, and had a remarkable capacity to imagine himself in the other person’s place.
Conciliation
“No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention.” Perhaps the most important lesson Lincoln ever learned was to avoid personal quarrels. The lesson Lincoln had to learn was to disagree without being disagreeable, to argue in such a way that an opponent did not become an enemy. Lincoln illustrated the lesson with an example. “Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog will not cure the bite.”

Forgiveness
He came to the conclusion that time and energy devoted to getting even is better spent getting ahead. Lincoln said, when “any man ceases to attack me, I never remember the past against him.” Several individuals commented nastily about certain politician. Lincoln responded this way: “You have more of that feeling of personal resentment than I have. Perhaps I have too little of it; but I never thought it paid.”

Ambition
“I’ll study and get ready, and then the chance will come.” Lincoln believed he was destined for great things, and it was his responsibility to get ready for them. Herndon wrote that he was always calculating and always planning ahead. His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest. Though Lincoln was restlessly ambitious, it was not derived from lust for personal wealth or power.

Study
A capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key or one of the keys to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones.

His practice was when he wished to indelibly fix anything he was reading or studying on his mind to write it down. Robert B. Rutledge recalled, “I have known him to write whole pages of books he was reading.”

Even after he had achieved his ultimate goal – the presidency – Lincoln never lost his thirst for knowledge. He was following a principle that had served him well throughout his life: “Get the books and read and study them in their principles features; and that is the main thing,” he wrote an aspiring lawyer.

Resourcefulness
“Determine that the thing can and will be done, and then we will find the way.”

Ethics
“I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.” What was true and right and just, he would never surrender; he would die before he would surrender his ideas of these.

When a client came into his office and wanted advice, Mr. Lincoln listened to his story well . . . now and then breaking in by asking a question. After the man was done telling his story and after he was done asking questions, he would generally think a while before answering. When he answered, sometimes after he had taken time to do research, it as, ‘You are in the right, or you are in the wrong."
Altruism
“I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in.” Assistant Secretary of War Charles Dana stated: “The great quality of his appearance was benevolence and benignity, the wish to do somebody some good if he could. For many people, a vocation is a way to make a living. For Lincoln, his vocation became a way to make a difference.

On compassion
On the whole, my impression is that mercy bears richer fruits than any other attribute.

Trust
He would greet a mechanic or clerk just as graciously as he would a governor.

Achievement
“The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he can.” Lincoln was impressed by individual who, like himself, were self-made. Frederick Douglas, the former slave who became internationally celebrated as an editor and orator stated, “I account partially for his kindness to me because of the similarity with which I had fought my way up, we both starting at the lowest round of the ladder.”

Citizenship
Lincoln never abandoned his reverence for the law or his belief that obeying the law is the duty of every citizen.

Democracy
“We proposed to give all a chance and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorance, wiser; and all better and happier together.”

Tolerance
His acceptance of people unlike him in color, creed, or language was indeed impressive. Lincoln open mindedness was appearance even before he became President. For example, when an anti-immigrant and anti-Chatolic political organization called Know Nothings became popular, Lincoln was asked how he felt about the movement. He responded, “Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that all men are created equal. We now practically read it all men are created equal, except Negroes. When the Know Nothings get control, it will read, all men are created equal, except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics. Though Lincoln understood that members of a diverse population will have problems adjusting to one another, he was also wise enough to see that diversity provides an enormous opportunity to utilize the strengths of many individuals and cultures.

Piety
“I have had so many evidence of His direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will, that I cannot doubt that this power comes from above. Looking up to Him for wisdom and divine guidance, I must work out destiny as best I can.”

Adversity
Over the course of his life, Lincoln realized that failure is essential to learning. Fascinated by science, he knew that scientific knowledge progresses by trial and error – through more experiments that fail than succeed. Lincoln commented, “Too often we read only of successful experiments in science and philosophy, whereas if the history of failure and defeat was included there would be a saving of brain work as well as time.” Often critical of Lincoln Horace Greeley admitted that “he was open to all impression and influences, and gladly profited by the teachings of events and circumstances, no matter how adverse or unwelcome. There was probably no year of his life when he was not a wiser, calmer, and better man than he had been the year preceding.”

Lincoln also saw failure as an installment on later success. Just because Lincoln learned to view failures pragmatically doesn’t mean they were pleasant. Often they hurt him deeply. Stephan Logan, one of Lincoln’ law partners, recalled a courtroom suffered at the hand of Edward D. Baker. I said to him: ‘It doesn’t depend on the start a man gets, it depends on how he keeps up his labors and efforts until middle life.’ Baker was a brilliant man but very negligent; while Lincoln was growing all the time. Nevertheless, Lincoln believed that one must struggle, simply because it is the right thing to do. Though Lincoln did in fact experience many failures, as all restlessly ambitious individuals do, far more important is the way in which he faced them. With the right attitude you can control every situation.

Deliberation
Lincoln was neither quick nor impulsive. By his own admission, he was slow to learn, but he was also slow to forget what he had learned. Many lawyers who worked with him agreed that he was neither brilliant nor genius, but instead systematic, painstaking, and careful. His habit was, before speaking or acting, to deliberately look through, around, and beyond every subject, fact, statement, or proposition to which his attention was called. Deliberation brought some important benefits, Lincoln discovered. He made fewer mistake by not rushing. “I am a slow walker,” he said, “but I never walk back.” In response to a letter urging him to stand firm Lincoln responded: “I hope to stand firm enough not to go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country’s cause.

Research
Having superior information gives one an advantage over his peers. This lesson would be reinforced early when Lincoln worked as the junior partner of Stephan T. Logan, one of the greatest lawyers of his day. Logan urged Lincoln not to rely on his wits alone, but to prepare each case from the viewpoint of his opponent.

Conviction
“The world will know that I will keep my faith to friends and enemies, come what will.”
Lincoln discovered what all great communicators know – that they can move others, they must themselves be moved. An observer remembered Lincoln speech “It seemed to me there came an eloquence born of the earnestness of a heart convinced of the sinfulness – the injustice and the brutality of the institution of slavery, which made him a changed man. So long as I live I will never lose the impression he made upon me.”

Freedom
Freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, Lincoln believed, among government, churches, slaveholders, or even parents.

Self-Discipline
Lincoln may well have come upon this maxim: “What avails the show of external liberty to one who has lost the government of himself?” In Lincoln quest to make the most of himself, he took on the arduous task of mastering English grammar and legal theory in order to become a respected lawyer. He recognized that his capacity to make a resolution and keep it was perhaps his most valuable asset. For Lincoln, self-discipline was inextricably liked to willpower: “By all means, don’t say if I can; say I will.”

It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off! We cannot make progress without making decisions. Don’t say, “If I could, I would.” Say, “If I can, I will.”

Humor
Lincoln often would tell one droll story after another, leaving his listeners convulsed with laughter. He used humor to find a way to people hearts, a way to connect with them. Like any good salesman, he understood that smiling people are more likely to make purchase or accept ideas than frowning ones. Long before scientific evidence proved laughter can actually prevent disease and sometimes cure it, Lincoln spoke of laughter as medicine. Laugh has been the President’s life-preserver.

Friendship
People recognized that Lincoln has their best interest at heart. If he could not help them, they correctly sensed that he certainly would never deliberately hurt them. He could be trusted with a secret or with money, and he was neither greedy nor envious. He was a grateful man and showed his appreciation for any little kindness in memorable and appropriate ways. He took the time to write a personal letter to a young girl named Grace Bedell, thanking her for advising him to grow a beard.

These fundamental principles of care, loyalty, and generosity, Lincoln added his skill as a conversationalist, which also made him a sought-after friend. He knew how to listen, and he listened attentively.

Lincoln cherished solitude. His practice of regularly withdrawing from other’s company. During those quiet times, Lincoln would recharge himself.

Charity
“With charity for all. . . .” A charitable person was kind, patient, and liberal in judging the behavior of others, never haughty nor greedy, always generous. Charity is part of his greatness – both as a man and as a leader.

Life’s Brevity
With Lincoln, time consciousness was almost an obsession. Keenly aware of the brevity of life, he himself was constantly surrounded by death. He observed firsthand how quickly life could be snuffed out. When he was two years old, his infant bother died; he lost his mother when he was nine. When he was ten years old, he was near death: he was kicked by a horse and, in his own words, was “apparently killed for a time.” He lost his sister Sarah when he was eighteen. Ann Rutledge, his first and best love died when he was twenty-six. In 1850, his son Eddy died at ages three. During the course of the Civil war, scores of relatives and close friends were slain in battle. And in 1862, his beloved eleven-year-old son Willie died, a loss that devastated the President. Lincoln often quoted a passage from Gibbon’s “Philosophical Reflection,” which contains the statement: “In a composition of some days . . . the duration of a life or reign is contracted to a fleeing moment, the grave is ever beside the throne.” His favorite poem, “Mortality,” by William Knox, dwells on the transient nature of life.

Afterword
“If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

Lincoln’s life was always a work in progress. Who indeed could have predicted that the barely literate youth would grow up and engrave Jefferson’s words on the hearts of the world at Gettysburg?

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA.


The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, PennsylvaniaNovember 19, 1863

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, 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. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be 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. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.