With The Catching Ends The Pleasure Of

I Hope It Will Not Be Irreverent In Me To Say, That If It Be Probable That God Would Reveal His Will To Others, On A Point So Connected With My Duty, It Might Be Supposed He Would Reveal It Directly To Me

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.

My Paramount Object In This Struggle Is To Save The Union, And Is Not Either To Save Or To Destroy Slavery. If I Could Save The Union Without Freeing Any Slave I Would Do It, And If I Could Save It By Freeing All The Slaves I Would Do It; And If I Could Save It By Freeing Some And Leaving Others Alone I Would Also Do That. What I Do About Slavery, And The Colored Race, I Do Because I Believe It Helps To Save The Union; And What I Forbear, I Forbear Because I Do Not Believe It Would Help To Save The Union.

I Am An Optimist Because I Don't See The Point In Being Anything Else.

Politics, As A Trade, Finds Most And Leaves Nearly All Dishonest.