Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to 
speak and remove all doubt. -- Abraham Lincoln, (attributed)

"I have been told I was on the road to hell, but I had no idea 
it was just a mile down the road with a Dome on it." -- Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
http://liberty-tree.ca/qb/Abraham.Lincoln.Quote.9618

"I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from ...
the Declaration of Independence ... that all should have an equal
chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of
Independence ... I would rather be assassinated on this spot
than surrender it."
-- Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
http://liberty-tree.ca/qb/Abraham.Lincoln.Quote.0426


"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything."
-- Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
Source: Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858
(The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, pp. 145-146.)
http://liberty-tree.ca/qb/Abraham.Lincoln.Quote.C318


"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 all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."
-- Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
Source: Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862
http://liberty-tree.ca/qb/Abraham.Lincoln.Quote.EBA2