Commitment

“From time to time, the life of a leader can look hopeless.
To help you, consider a man who lived through this…

Failed in business in ’31.
Defeated for legislature in ’32.
Again failed in business in ’34.
Sweetheart died in ’35.
Had a nervous breakdown in ’36.
Defeated in election in ’38.
Defeated in Congress in ’43.
Defeated for Congress in ’46.
Defeated for Congress in ’48.
Defeated for Senate in ’55.
Defeated for Vice President in ’56.
Defeated for Senate in ’58.
Elected for President in ’60.
This man was Abraham Lincoln.”

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses
my idea of democracy.
-Abraham Lincoln

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
-Abraham Lincoln

It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, 'And this,
too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the
hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
-Abraham Lincoln