I recently wrote a tribute to our 16th president , a poem which barely does him justice. In my lifetime, I have read serveral biographies about him and though I cannot remember details very well, my brain retains a great nuimber of very interesting trivia about this brilliant man. Though prone to melancholy (some say he was even suidical at one time), I am pretty sure this godly man would never have considered suicide. However, he did know great sadness in his life and below I have left a poem of his dealing with the theme of suicide. Yes, Lincoln not only self-taught himself grammar and the law so that he could become a lawyer, he also dabbled a little in poetry! Strong, athletic clever, eloquent, good-humored and entertaining, Lincoln was endowed with many blessings.
Did you guys know Lincoln also was the best speech writer of all our presidents? The Gettysberg Address is only one example of his great eloquence. One of the most memorable of the books I read about him was very beautifully written as if by a poet and this man described Lincoln as if he had actually known him. I wish I could remember the author and the book's name! .So many books have been written on Lincoln, I cannot find now on Google that book that I liked so much! Can anyone think of it? It was written in a romantic way of his childhood and youth.
In addition to his many good deeds, Lincoln is known for over 200 very good quotes. I selected some of my very favorites and most famous of his quotes. Tell me the one(s) you like most. At the bottom of this blog I will leave you with two of Abe's poems: The Suicide's Soliloquy and a very short funny poem he must have written as a child! Hope you enjoy them as I did. Belated birthday wishes to my hero, Abraham Lincoln.
1. “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
2. “Whatever you are, be a good one.”
3. “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
4. “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
5. “My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.”
6. “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
7. “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.” (that one wows me)
8. “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves”
9. “There are no bad pictures; that's just how your face looks sometimes.”
10. “I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”
11. “Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.”
12. “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” (a classic!)
13. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
14. “I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.”
15. “Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”
16. “No man is poor who has a Godly mother.”
17. “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
18. “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
19. “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.”
20. “I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.”
21. “My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don’t deny it. I’d rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh — anything but work.” (priceless)
22. “I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all. ”
(I just did his numerology. OMG, Lincoln was a double FIVE, just like me and shared my Destiny 7 too. No wonder I adore him! Five, by the way, is the number of the person who loves fun over work. Obviously I loved quote number 21. But all of these quotes are gems for me!)
The Suicide's Soliloquy
Here, where the lonely hooting owl
Sends forth his midnight moans,
Fierce wolves shall o’er my carcase growl,
Or buzzards pick my bones.
No fellow-man shall learn my fate,
Or where my ashes lie;
Unless by beasts drawn round their bait,
Or by the ravens’ cry.
Yes! I’ve resolved the deed to do,
And this the place to do it:
This heart I’ll rush a dagger through,
Though I in hell should rue it!
Hell! What is hell to one like me
Who pleasures never know;
By friends consigned to misery,
By hope deserted too?
To ease me of this power to think,
That through my bosom raves,
I’ll headlong leap from hell’s high brink,
And wallow in its waves.
Though devils yell, and burning chains
May waken long regret;
Their frightful screams, and piercing pains,
Will help me to forget.
Yes! I’m prepared, through endless night,
To take that fiery berth!
Think not with tales of hell to fright
Me, who am damn’d on earth!
Sweet steel! come forth from your sheath,
And glist’ning, speak your powers;
Rip up the organs of my breath,
And draw my blood in showers!
I strike! It quivers in that heart
Which drives me to this end;
I draw and kiss the bloody dart,
My last—my only friend!
Abraham Lincoln is my nam[e]
And with my pen I wrote the same
I wrote in both hast and speed
and left it here for fools to read
Abraham Lincoln