If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
Some great leaders emerge without major crises.
Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven't had one since Taft. Look at the United States, they have not had one since Lincoln.
There lies the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen. Now he belongs to the ages.
Lincoln marked the half-way post on the road to the sewers (in presidents).
As to Mr. Lincoln's name and fame and memory, - all is safe. His firmness, moderation, goodness of heart; his quaint humor, his perfect honesty and directness …
When future historians are writing about the 20th century Senate, Senator Robert Byrd will surely be remembered as one of the giants who followed in the footst…
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.