I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
Abraham LincolnRead
No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Policies require the support of the public's philosophical beliefs to endure.
Abraham Lincoln's quote emphasizes the importance of public opinion grounded in philosophical reasoning as a cornerstone for any enduring policy. Without a strong philosophical foundation that resonates with the populace, policies are likely to fail or be rejected, underscoring the interplay between belief and governance.
Themes
PolicyPublic OpinionPhilosophyGovernanceBelief
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of civic engagement, one might use this quote to highlight the role of public opinion in shaping policies.
More from Abraham Lincoln
All quotes βSir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Abraham LincolnRead
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham LincolnRead
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
Abraham LincolnRead
For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then is due to the soldier.
Abraham LincolnRead
And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
Abraham LincolnRead
Similar quotes
You can find the entire cosmos lurking in its least remarkable objects.
Wislawa SzymborskaRead
Yet when the blood of the sons of immigrants and the grandsons of slaves fell on foreign fields, it was American blood. In it you could not read the ethnic particulars of the soldier who died next to you. He was an American. And when I think of how we learned this lesson, I wonder how we could have unlearned it.
Bob DoleRead
Having a monolithic view of feminism is suffocating.
Kimberle Williams CrenshawRead
When I was young I had an elderly friend who used often to ask me to stay with him in the country. He was a religious man and he read prayers to the assembled household every morning. But he had crossed out in pencil all the passages that praised God. He said that there was nothing so vulgar as to praise people to their faces and, himself a gentleman, he could not believe that God was so ungentlemanly as to like it.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
To destroy Christianity, we must first destroy the British Empire.
Karl MarxRead
If you want the truth rather than merely something to say, you will have a good deal less to say.
Thomas NagelRead