Lincoln's pithy sayings

[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' ".