"I certainly know that if the war..." - Quote by Abraham Lincoln
I certainly know that if the war fails, the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed, if I could do better. You think I could do better; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do better; therefore I blame you for blaming me.
More by Abraham Lincoln
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”
“When someone asked Abraham Lincoln, after he was elected president, what he was going to do about his enemies, he replied, "I am going to destroy them. I am going to make them my friends."”
“A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections.”
More on Leadership
“Great and glorious events which dazzle the beholder are represented by politicians as the outcome of grand designs whereas they are usually products of temperaments and passions.”
“Being a leader means that you're going to have to make difficult calls. You have to have the courage to do what's right, even if it's not popular.”
“There is a certain responsibility that accrued to me when I got to this unexpected position.”
More on Responsibility
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances.”
“For years to come the debris of a convulsed world will beset our steps. It will require a purpose stronger than any man and worthy of all men to calm and inspirit us. A sane society whose riches are happy children, men and women, beautiful with peace and creative activity, is not going to be ordained for us. We must make it ourselves.”
“Freedom is not the right to live as we please, but the right to find how we ought to live in order to fulfill our potential.”