Without the assistance of that Divine Being, who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail.
– Abraham Lincoln, Farewell Address, 11 February 1861
Where free men had failed the test before, this time we met the test.
In the long run the strength of our free society, and our ideals, will prevail over a system that has respect for neither God nor man.
– Harry S. Truman, Farewell Address, 15 January 1953
… we are increasingly drawn to single-issue groups and special interest organizations to ensure that whatever else happens, our own personal views and our own private interests are protected.
From that perspective, we see our Earth as it really is—a small and fragile and beautiful blue globe, the only home we have. We see no barriers of race or religion or country. We see the essential unity of our species and our planet. And with faith and common sense, that bright vision will ultimately prevail.
The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people, all combine to create problems which are easy to observe and predict, but difficult to resolve. But there is no reason for despair. Acknowledging the physical realities of our planet does not mean a dismal future of endless sacrifice. In fact, acknowledging these realities is the first step in dealing with them.
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it’s the other way around. Human rights invented America.
But we know that democracy is always an unfinished creation. Each generation must renew its foundations. Each generation must rediscover the meaning of this hallowed vision in the light of its own modern challenges.
– Jimmy Carter, 14 January 1981
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