Lincoln's pithy sayings

[Juan Marrero]

I have long been reading and learning from this Symposium, but it was the commemoration of the 150th anniversary that has prompted me to join this wonderful group of admirers of the greatest American.

Abraham Lincoln had a wonderful way of fusing wisdom with humor. His "little stories" illustrated his underlying message better than a long disquisition ever could. I am wondering if the members have particular phrases or "punch lines" from him that they themselves enjoy employing.

Some of my favorites are (from memory so may be off on the exact wording):

1. "One war at a time" The perfect remedy against the kind of multi-tasking that frazzles and frustrates the end design.

2. "When you make a bad bargain, hug it all the tighter". A zen-like gem from the 16th President, apparently used by Thomas Lincoln.

3. "The hen is the wisest of creatures, it does not cackle until the egg is laid." Take that, over-confident generals of battles still to be won.

4. "He was the greatest scoundrel God ever made, but in His Providence also the biggest fool." Ouch.

5. "He will not steal a red hot stove." Lincoln's cautious defense of Cameron, I believe.

6. "She will think nothing of it." According to Mary his last words. A wonderful way of saying that their young guest would not mind seeing the President and his wife holding hands.

And, I find particularly funny his "story" about the young man who makes a show of his love of all things Washington by taking a long pilgrimage to Virginia to see an old dress still owned by an elderly lady who had worn it on the long ago ocassion of meeting GW. The punch line (a little blue) could have out of the book "A Confederacy of Dunces."

[Gene C]

Welcome Juan.
I also enjoy Lincoln's humor. Line #5 is one of my favorites.

I wonder what it would have been like, when Lincoln was riding the law circuit, to stay up late at night and listen to him tell jokes and hear his stories.

[RJNorton]

Welcome Juan! I have always felt one of Lincoln's neatest sayings was reported by John Hay and is included in Hay's diary:

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

[Gene C]

Not sure if he really said this, but I liked his reply when Stephen Douglas said he was two-faced
"Honestly, if I were two-faced, would I be showing you this one?"

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/bob-ma...olns-smile

[Juan Marrero]

Not to overdo the "Lincoln as a Secular Christ" figure, but I wonder if there may be a parallel in Jesus and AL's use of humor as a teaching tool. I once heard a preacher suggest that some of Jesus' more enigmatic and toubling sayings were actually "jokes" with a purpose. The camel attempting to go through the eye of a needle, asking the the dead to bury the dead, the cursing of the fig tree, plucking the sinning eye would all make more sesne (and less alarm)if viewed as a type First century Jewish humor that used exageration and absurdity as comic devices. "Physician heal thyself" would be a more obvious example of this. So, bringing it back to Lincoln, I wonder if his thoughtful reading of Scriptures informed his own use of humor to make a broader point.

[Gene C]

That is an interesting perspective. Lincoln certainly used stories (parables) to help make his point.

http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/Abrah...n_plan_pdf

[Eva Elisabeth]

Welcome Juan - great you joined! I, too, am a lover of Lincoln's words and wisdom. As for the latter and "one war at a time" (which he said in the course of the "Trent Affair"), one of my favorite examples for Lincoln's skills to deal with people is how he "handled" Seward in this case. The stove comment, if I remember correctly, he said to Thaddeus Stevens.

Welcome Juan! I have always felt one of Lincoln's neatest sayings was reported by John Hay and is included in Hay's diary:

"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

Roger, this is probably my absolute favorite as I think it is so right! And it tells so much about the speaker himself!

[LincolnToddFan]

First of all, WELCOME Juan Marrero! I do hope you enjoy your time here!

There are many favorite Lincoln phrases to choose from. He had a gift for language and it's use that has not-in my opinion-been matched in the presidency. I always laugh out loud when reading this portion of a speech he made to a group of Chicago ministers. He was attempting to explain the importance of timing regarding the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation:

"...What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet! Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the rebel States? Is there a single court, or magistrate, or individual that would be influenced by it there?"

There is also a very funny story in The Civil War Diaries of George Templeton Strong, pg #308...."Senator Dixon...calling on the President and suggesting a parallel between secession and that first rebellion of which Milton sang...Abe Lincoln didn't know very much about Paradise Lost and sent out for a copy, looked through it's first books under the Senator's guidance, and was struck by the coincidences between the utterances of Satan and those of Jefferson Davis, whom...he generally designates as 'that t'other fellow' ".