I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
Abraham LincolnRead
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it.
Interpretation
The fate of civil war lies in the hands of the people, not the government.
Abraham Lincoln emphasizes the responsibility of the citizens in a nation, highlighting that it is not the government that will provoke violence against them. Instead, he reminds them of their duty to uphold peace and the governance system, as he is sworn to protect it.
In practice
During a rally to promote civic engagement, this quote highlights the importance of active participation.
I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then is due to the soldier.
And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
There are different ways to lead throughout a practice or a year. Whatever that moment needs is something I've always tried to be ready to do.
History has repeatedly been changed by people who had the desire and the ability to transfer their convictions and emotions to their listeners.
Working together on solving something requires a high level of humility and a high level of self-awareness.
The great defence against aerial menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.
I once played a sheriff who thought he could do the job without a gun. I was dead in twenty-seven minutes of a thirty minute show.
In the heart of every lawyer, worthy of the name, there burns a deep ambition so to bear himself that the profession may be stronger by reason of his passage through its ranks, and that he may leave the law itself a better instrument of human justice than he found it.
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