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Abraham Lincoln, a leader forged in the crucible of the American Civil War, faced unprecedented challenges to the Union. His presidency, defined by secession, immense loss, and the monumental task of Emancipation, demanded extraordinary resilience. While not explicitly documented as a formal adherent, Lincoln’s actions and pronouncements reveal a deep resonance with Stoic philosophy. He embodies its principles of reason, duty, and acceptance of what lies beyond one’s control. Understanding this connection offers vital insight into the character that steered a nation through its darkest hour.
"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
"The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend."
"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."
"My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
"I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement I have the best of the bargain."
"Whatever you are, be a good one."
"I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has."
"I have a steppingstone to every difficulty."
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."
"The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day."
"We cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves."
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
"I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have."
"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."
"I will prepare and some day my chance will come."
"Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
"I am an old man now and I have had many troubles, but most of them never happened."
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
"I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence."
"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
"Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief — resolve to be honest at all events."
"The best way to predict your future is to create it."
"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business."
"I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot."
"Wealth is a superfluity of what we don't need."
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed."
"I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it."
"I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end."
"I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing."
"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
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