Lincoln and flowers

[RJNorton]

Joshua Speed is the source of this quote. Speed wrote to William Herndon on January 12, 1866, and reported that Lincoln had said this to him.

Speed reported Lincoln said, “Speed die when I may I want it said of me by those who know me best to say that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.”

SOURCE: pp. 157-158 of Herndon's Informants.