ABRAHAM LINCOLN

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM,

(1809-1865)

16th U.S. President

• “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
• “The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma.” (Joseph Lewis quoting Lincoln in a 1924 speech in New York)
• “I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.”
• “I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
• “It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to infidelity.” (quoted in What Great Men Think Of Religion by Ira D. Cardiff)
• "Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them." (Letter to Thurlow Weed, March 14, 1865)
• “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
• “My earlier views on the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.”
• "To remain silent when one should protest makes cowards out of men."
• “What is to be, will be and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.The United States Government must not undertake to run the churches. When an individual in a church, or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest, he must be checked.”
• “When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.” (attributed)

LINCOLN, MARY TODD (1818-1882)

first lady, wife of Abraham Lincoln
• "My husband is not a Christian but is a religious man, I think." (Toward a Mystery)

TODAY 2/12/09

is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my favorite presidents