Quotations from President Abraham Lincoln

Quotations from President Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln served as Americas 16th President of the United States, during the American Civil War. He was  assassinated soon after beginning his second term as president. Following are quotes from the man many believe to be the most significant president.   On Patriotism and Politics With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Said during the Second Inaugural Address  given on  Saturday, March 4, 1865. What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried? Stated during the Cooper Union Speech made on February 27, 1860.   A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one  thing,  or all the other. Stated in the House Divided speech delivered at the Republican State Convention on June 16,  1858  in Springfield, Illinois.   On Slavery and Racial Equality If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. Stated in a letter to A. G. Hodges written on April, 4, 1864.   [A]mong free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause, and pay the cost. Written in a letter to James C. Conkling. This was to be read to individuals who attended a rally on September 3, 1863.   As a nation, we began by declaring that all men are created equal. We now practically read it, All men are created equal, except Negroes. When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, All men are created equal except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics. When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some other country where they make no pretense of loving liberty - to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, without the base alloy of hypocrisy. Written in a letter to Joshua Speed on August 24, 1855. Speed and Lincoln had been friends since the 1830s.   On Honesty Truth is generally the best vindication against slander. Stated  in a letter to the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton on July 18, 1864. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the  time; but  you cant fool all of the people all the time. Attributed to Abraham Lincoln. However, there is some question about this.   On Learning [B]ooks serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his arent very new, after all. Recalled by J. E. Gallaher in his book about Lincoln called Best Lincoln Stories: Tersely Told  published in 1898.

Nothing Like the Sun (1964) by Anthony Burgess

Nothing Like the Sun (1964) by Anthony Burgess Anthony Burgess’s Nothing Like the Sun (1964) is a highly fascinating, albeit fictional, re-telling of Shakespeare’s love life. In 234 pages, Burgess manages to introduce his reader to a young Shakespeare developing into manhood and clumsily fumbling his way through his first sexual escapade with a woman, through Shakespeare’s long, famed (and contested) romance with Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton and, ultimately, to Shakespeare’s final days, the establishment of The Globe theater, and Shakespeare’s romance with â€Å"The Dark Lady.†    Burgess has a command for language.  It is difficult not to be impressed and a little awed by his skill as a story-teller and an imagist.  While, in typical fashion, he does tend to break-off at points of leisurely prose into something more Gertrude Steine-like (stream of consciousness, for example), for the most part he keeps this novel in finely tuned form. This will be nothing new for readers of his best known work, A Clockwork Orange (1962). There is an exceptional arc to this story, which carries the reader from Shakespeare’s boyhood, to his death, with common characters interacting regularly and to an end result.  Even the minor characters, such as Wriothesley’s secretary, are well-established and easily identifiable, once they have been described.   Readers might also appreciate the references to other historical figures of the time and how they affected Shakespeare’s life and works. Christopher Marlowe, Lord Burghley, Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I, and â€Å"The University Wits† (Robert Greene, John Lyly, Thomas Nashe and George Peele) all appear in or are referenced throughout the novel. Their works (as well as works of the Classicists – Ovid, Virgil; and the early dramatists – Seneca, etc) are clearly defined in relation to their impact on Shakespeare’s own designs and interpretations.  This is highly informative and simultaneously entertaining. Many will enjoy being reminded of how these playwrights competed and worked together, of how Shakespeare was inspired, and by whom, and of how politics and the time period played an important role in the successes and failures of the players (Greene, for instance, died sickly and shamed; Marlowe hunted down as an atheist; Ben Jonson’s imprisoned for treasonous writing, and Nashe having escaped from England for the same).   That being said, Burgess takes much creative, though well-researched, license with Shakespeare’s life and the details of his relationship with various people.  For instance, while many scholars believe â€Å"The Rival Poet† of â€Å"The Fair Youth† sonnets to be either Chapman or Marlowe due to circumstances of fame, stature, and wealth (ego, essentially), Burgess breaks from the traditional interpretation of â€Å"The Rival Poet† to explore the possibility that Chapman was, in fact, a rival for Henry Wriothesley’s attention and affection and,  for this reason, Shakespeare became jealous and critical of Chapman.   Similarly, the ultimately under-established relationships between Shakespeare and Wriothesley, Shakespeare and â€Å"The Dark Lady† (or Lucy, in this novel), and Shakespeare and his wife, are all largely fictional.  While the novel’s general details, including historical happenings, political and religious tensions, and rivalries between the poets and the players are all well envisioned, readers must be careful not to mistake these details for fact.   The story is well written and enjoyable. It is also a fascinating glimpse at history of this particularly time period.   Burgess reminds the reader of many of the fears and prejudices of the time, and seems to be more critical of Elizabeth I than Shakespeare himself was.  It is easy to appreciate Burgess’s cleverness and subtlety, but also his openness and candor in terms of sexuality and taboo relationships.   Ultimately, Burgess wants to open the reader’s mind to the possibilities of what could have happened but is not often explored. We might compare Nothing Like the Sun to others in the â€Å"creative nonfiction† genre, such as Irving Stone’s Lust for Life (1934). When we do, we must concede the latter to be more honest to the facts as we know them, whereas the former is a bit more adventurous in scope.  Overall, Nothing Like the Sun is a highly informative, enjoyable read offering an interesting and valid perspective on Shakespeare’s life and times.