The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Address at the Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, 19 November 1863, as reported the
following day; the Lincoln Memorial inscription reads ‘by the people, for the people’.
I think the necessity of being ready increases.—Look to it.
The whole of a letter to Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania, 8 April 1861
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union...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...I have here
stated my purpose according to my views of official duty and I intend no modification of my oftexpressed
personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.
Letter to Horace Greeley, 22 August 1862
I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
Letter to A. G. Hodges, 4 April 1864
As President, I have no eyes but constitutional eyes; I cannot see you.
Attributed reply to the South Carolina Commissioners.
The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he makes so many of them.
In James Morgan ‘Our President’ ch. 6
It is not best to swap horses while crossing the river.
Reply to National Union League, 9 June 1864, in J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay ‘Abraham Lincoln’ bk. 9
People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Judgement on a book, in G. W. E. Russell ‘Collections and Recollections’ (1898) ch. 30
So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!
On meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ (1852); in Carl Sandburg ‘Abraham
Lincoln: The War Years’ vol. 2, ch. 39
12.98 R. M. Lindner 1914-56
Rebel without a cause.
Title of book (1944) and film (1955) starring James Dean
12.99 Vachel Lindsay 1879-1931
Then I saw the Congo, creeping through the black,
Cutting through the forest with a golden track.
‘The Congo’ pt. 1 (1914)
Booth led boldly with his big brass drum—
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
The Saints smiled gravely and they said: ‘He’s come.’
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
Walking Lepers followed, rank on rank,
Lurching bravos from the ditches dank,
Drabs from the alleyways and drug fiends pale—