"I believe it is an established maxim..." - Quote by Abraham Lincoln
I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.
More by Abraham Lincoln
“We shall not fail - if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later, the victory is sure to come.”
“We were proclaiming ourselves political hypocrites before the world, by thus fostering Human Slavery and proclaiming ourselves, at the same time, the sole friends of Human Freedom.”
“A man has not the time to spend half his life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack me, I never remember the past against him.”
More on Truth
“The wise have always said the same things, and fools, who are the majority have always done just the opposite.”
“The arousing of prejudice, pity, anger, and similar emotions has nothing to do with the essential facts, but is merely a personal appeal to the man who is judging the case.”
“Truth is like a vast tree which yields more and more fruit the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mind of truth, the richer the discovery of the gems buried there.”
More on Morality
“Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”
“Look at you in war...There has never been a just one, never an honorable one, on the part of the instigator of the war.”
“The thing for us to do is just to do our duty, and not worry about whether anybody sees us do it or not.”