"Covering College Football Coaching from Miami to Honolulu"
“A winner never whines.”
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“Football is a game of errors. The team that makes the fewest errors in a game usually wins.”
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“The key to winning is poise under stress.”
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“What we have currently available is what we have available.”
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“When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.”
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“You can learn a line from a win and a book from a defeat.”
Wikipedia: Paul Brown
“The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.”
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“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.”
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“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power.”
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“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
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“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”
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“Philosophy is common sense with big words.”
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“America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.”
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“A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.”
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“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.”
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“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
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“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.”
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“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
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“What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”
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“The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”
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“In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.”
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“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, at a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.”
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“The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.”
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“The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.”
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“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
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“Wherever there is interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done.”
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“War should only be declared by the authority of the people, whose toils and treasures are to support its burdens, instead of the government which is to reap its fruits.”
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“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.”
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“What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?”
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“There is no maxim, in my opinion, which is more liable to be misapplied, and which, therefore, more needs elucidation, than the current one, that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.”
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“Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”
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“The personal right to acquire property, which is a natural right, gives to property, when acquired, a right to protection, as a social right.”
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“The man who is possessed of wealth, who lolls on his sofa or rolls in his carriage, cannot judge the wants or feelings of the day-laborer. The government we mean to erect is intended to last for ages. The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe, — when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of trade and manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections, and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.”
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“In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”
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“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the constituents.”
Wikipedia Page: James Madison
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.
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“Character is much easier kept than recovered.”
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“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
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“I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.”
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“One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.”
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“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best stage, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”
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“That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.”
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“There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord.”
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“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
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“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
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“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
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“We have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months.” Common Sense, 1776
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“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” The American Crisis, 1776
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“It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” The American Crisis, 1776
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“The circumstances of the world are continually changing, and the opinions of man change also; and as government is for the living, and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it.” The Rights of Man, 1791
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“It is the nature and intention of a constitution to prevent governing by party, by establishing a common principle that shall limit and control the power and impulse of party, and that says to all parties, thus far shalt thou go and no further. But in the absence of a constitution, men look entirely to party; and instead of principle governing party, party governs principle.” First Principles of Government, 1795
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“I never tire of reading Tom Paine.” Abraham Lincoln, as quoted in A Literary History of the American People, 1931
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“I consider Paine our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so Paine has had no successors who extended his principles.” Thomas Alva Edison
Wikipedia: Thomas Paine
“A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.”
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“A government of laws, and not of men.”
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“All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
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“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”
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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
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“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”
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“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
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“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”
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“If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?”
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“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”
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“Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”
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“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.”
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“Power always thinks… that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.”
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“There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.”
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“Tis impossible to judge with much Præcision of the true Motives and Qualities of human Actions, or of the Propriety of Rules contrived to govern them, without considering with like Attention, all the Passions, Appetites, Affections in Nature from which they flow. An intimate Knowledge therefore of the intellectual and moral World is the sole foundation on which a stable structure of Knowledge can be erected.”
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“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.”
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“Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”
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“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
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“The consequences arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in our own.”
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“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.”
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“As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760–1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.”
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“Power always sincerely, conscientiously, de très bon foi, believes itself right. Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak.”
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“Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it.”
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“This is the most magnificent movement of all! There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire. The people should never rise without doing something to be remembered — something notable and striking. This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that I can’t but consider it as an epocha in history!”
On the Boston Tea Party (17 December 1773)
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“Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.”
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Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.” John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife
Wikipedia: John Adams
Remarks of Benjamin Franklin after the signing of the US Constitution on September 17, 1787 in the words of James Madison:
“Whilst the last members were signing it Doctor Franklin looking towards the Presidents Chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that Painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often in the course of the Session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun.
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“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”
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“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
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“Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.”
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“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?”
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“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
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“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
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“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”
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“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”
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“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
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“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
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“How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.”
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“It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.”
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“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
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“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”
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“Where liberty is, there is my country.”
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“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
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“I believe there is one Supreme most perfect being. … I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those He has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous.”
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“I think opinions should be judged of by their influences and effects, and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous; which I hope is the case with me.”
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“Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.”
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“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
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“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
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“Let me add, that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
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“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
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“These Names of Virtues with their Precepts were
1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to Dulness. Drink not to Elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or your self. Avoid trifling Conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your Things have their Places. Let each part of your Business have its Time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e. Waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no Time. Be always employ’d in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no Uncleanliness in Body, Clothes, or Habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace or Reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
Wikipedia Page: Benjamin Franklin
“The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.”
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“A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends.”
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“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”
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“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
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“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.”
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“Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.”
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“Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
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“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
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“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”
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“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
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“It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.”
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“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
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“Nothing can be more hurtful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army the superiority over another.”
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“To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.”
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“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.”
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“War – An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.”
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“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
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“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.” George Washington, Address to the Continental Army before the Battle of Long Island, 27 August 1776
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“Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude.”
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“There is a Destiny which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.”
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“The only stipulations I shall contend for are, that in all things you shall do as you please. I will do the same; and that no ceremony may be used or any restraint be imposed on any one.”
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“Rise early, that by habit it may become familiar, agreeable, healthy, and profitable. It may, for a while, be irksome to do this, but that will wear off; and the practice will produce a rich harvest forever thereafter; whether in public or private walks of life.”
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“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
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“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.”
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“We have abundant reason to rejoice, that, in this land, the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened age, & in this land of equal liberty, it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining & holding the highest offices that are known in the United States.”
Wikipedia: George Washington
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
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“All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.”
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“Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose – and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”
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“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”
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“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
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“Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable – a most sacred right – a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.”
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“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
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“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
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“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.”
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“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
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“Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.”
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“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
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“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
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“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.”
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“I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”
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“I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”
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“I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.”
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“I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.”
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“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”
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“If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.”
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“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
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“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
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“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
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“Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.”
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“The assertion that “all men are created equal” was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use.”
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“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.”
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“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
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“You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.”
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“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
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“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”
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“The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall our selves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.” Second State of the Union Address, December 1, 1862
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“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? — Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! — All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” Lycecum Address, 1838
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“Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature — opposition to it, in his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely, as slavery extension brings them, shocks, and throes, and convulsions must ceaselessly follow. Repeal the Missouri Compromise — repeal all compromises — repeal the Declaration of Independence — repeal all past history, you still can not repeal human nature. It still will be the abundance of man’s heart, that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak.”
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“Four score 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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
And
Here is a great excerpt from that book that happened just after the First Battle of Bull Run, August 1861:
“Dozens of regiments had set up impromptu around Fort Corcoran, on Arlington Heights. Every day these canvas congeries trembled like leaves in the wind as fresh rumors of an impending Confederate attack. And every day Lincoln heard fresh stories of demoralized troops, mutinous regiments, poor discipline. Some regiments were entitled to – and clamoring for – an immediate discharge, their ninety-day service complete. The War Department’s officers seemed to busy for the burdensome task of mustering them out. Unchecked, however, mutinous sentiments could spread through camps like a virulent disease.
Lincoln decided to see for himself, and Seward went with him. A few days after Bull Run, they rode across the Potomac in an open carriage on an impromptu visit to the troops. What greeted them was redoubts spreading across the landscape, tents sprouting like mushrooms in nearly every direction, dusty roads, a cross-hatching of cart tracks, men milling or lolling about, few signs of order or purpose. Yet the District, on edge for its safety, has more than enough men to defend it – if the men chose.
As the carriage rattled along towards Fort Corcoran, a red-bearded colonel strode up: William Tecumseh Sherman. He had commanded a brigade at Bull Run, superbly. Sherman asked if the President had come to see the troops. “Yes,” said Lincoln. “We heard that you had got over the big scare and we thought we would come over and see the boys.”
Sherman got into the carriage, giving the driver directions to a camp at the top of a small hill. Sitting next to Lincoln, he asked if the President intended to speak to the men. “I would like to,” said Lincoln.
Sherman said he no objection to that, but he did not want cheering, “No hurrahing, no humbug. We had enough of it before Bull Run to spoil any set of them.” None worse than the 69 th New York, filled with Irishmen angry at not being discharged. Sherman had rebuked one of the officers of lax discipline.
Standing in the carriage, Lincoln gave an impromptu talk to Sherman’s troops: bravery, sacrifice, gratitude, a glorious future. The men began to cheer, but he held up his hand. “Don’t cheer boys, I confess I rather like it myself, but Colonel Sherman says it is not military, and I guess we had better defer to his opinion.”
Closing his impromptu peroration, Lincoln said that as Commander in Chief, he was determined that every man should be treated exactly as the law required: his indirect promise that those entitled to a discharge would soon have one. As the carriage moved on, a young officer ran after it, calling out piteously, “Mr. Lincoln! Mr. Lincoln!”
Lincoln ordered the driver to stop. Here was the officer of the 69 th New York whom Sherman had criticized, panting hard. “Mr. President, I have a cause of grievance. This morning I went to speak to Colonel Sherman, and he threatened to shoot me.”
“I told him Mr. President, that if he refused to obey my order, I would shoot him on the spot,” said Sherman. “And I here repeat it, sir, that if I remain in command here, and he or any other man refuses to obey my orders, I’ll shoot him on the spot.”
Lincoln bent forward. “My lad, if I were you, and he threatened to shoot, I would not trust him, for I believe he would do it!” The troops, until then sympathetic to the officer, howled with laughter.
Both Seward and Lincoln were impressed by the comparative tidiness of the camps of Sherman’s regiments. “This is the first bright moment I’ve experienced since the battle,” Lincoln told Sherman before riding off. From his own military experience, he knew that neatness and cleanliness is an army spelled discipline; neglect was a signal of trouble to come.”
End of excerpt from Lincoln’s War
Wikipedia: Abraham Lincoln
“But this is the great danger America faces. That we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups: city against suburb, region against region, individual against individual. Each seeking to satisfy private wants.”
And
“Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.”
And
“Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment.”
And
“For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.”
And
“I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in “We, the people.”
And
“I never intended to become a run-of-the-mill person.”
And
“If we promise as public officials, we must deliver. If we as public officials propose, we must produce.”
And
“If you’re going to play the game properly, you’d better know every rule.”
And
“Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.”
And
“Let us heed the voice of the people and recognize their common sense. If we do not, we not only blaspheme our political heritage, we ignore the common ties that bind all Americans.”
And
“More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.”
And
“The citizens of America expect more. They deserve and they want more than a recital of problems.”
And
“There is no executive order; there is no law that can require the American people to form a national community. This we must do as individuals and if we do it as individuals, there is no President of the United States who can veto that decision.”
And
“There is no obstacle in the path of young people who are poor or members of minority groups that hard work and preparation cannot cure.”
And
“We are a people trying not only to solve the problems of the present: unemployment, inflation… but we are attempting on a larger scale to fulfill the promise of America.”
And
“We call ourselves public servants but I’ll tell you this: we as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good.”
And
“We must exchange the philosophy of excuse – what I am is beyond my control for the philosophy of responsibility.”
And
“What the people want is very simple – they want an America as good as its promise.”
And
“What we have to do is strike a balance between the idea that government should do everything and the idea, the belief, that government ought to do nothing. Strike a balance.”
Wikipedia: Barbara Jordan
“A winner never stops trying.”
And
“Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it’s so incredible, it’s unbelievable.”
And
“I don’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.”
And
“I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.”
And
“If you are prepared, you will be confident, and will do the job.”
And
“Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.”
And
“Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.”
And
“Right after the game, say as little as possible.”
And
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.”
And
“The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.”
And
“Today, you have 100% of your life left.”
And
“When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn.”
Wikipedia: Tom Landry
“Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin’ and preachin’ were a lot alike.”
And
“But it’s still a coach’s game. Make no mistake. You start at the top. If you don’t have a good one at the top, you don’t have a cut dog’s chance. If you do, the rest falls into place. You have to have good assistants, and a lot of things, but first you have to have the chairman of the board.”
And
“If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.”
And
“I think the most important thing of all for any team is a winning attitude. The coaches must have it. The players must have it. The student body must have it. If you have dedicated players who believe in themselves, you don’t need a lot of talent.”
And
“The idea of molding men means a lot to me.”
And
“You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat. Then you’ve got yourself a team.”
And
“If wanting to win is a fault, as some of my critics seem to insist, then I plead guilty. I like to win. I know no other way. It’s in my blood.”
And
“Get the winners into the game.”
And
“The old lessons (work, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren’t being taught by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country’s future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief.”
And
“Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don’t forget them when they leave.”
And
“It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.”
And
“I’ll never give up on a player regardless of his ability as long as he never gives up on himself. In time he will develop.”
And
“Set goals – high goals for you and your organization. When your organization has a goal to shoot for, you create teamwork, people working for a common good.”
And
“Don’t talk too much. Don’t pop off. Don’t talk after the game until you cool off.”
And
“You have to learn what makes this or that Sammy run. For one it’s a pat on the back, for another it’s eating him out, for still another it’s a fatherly talk, or something else. You’re a fool if you think as I did as a young coach, that you can treat them all alike.”
And
“If a man is a quitter, I’d rather find out in practice than in a game. I ask for all a player has so I’ll know later what I can expect.”
And
“Find your own picture, your own self in anything that goes bad. It’s awfully easy to mouth off at your staff or chew out players, but if it’s bad, and you’re the head coach, you’re responsible. If we have an intercepted pass, I threw it. I’m the head coach. If we get a punt blocked, I caused it. A bad practice, a bad game, it’s up to the head coach to assume his responsibility.”
And
“It’s awfully important to win with humility. It’s also important to lose with humility. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won’t know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back.”
And
“Losing doesn’t make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder.”
And
“The biggest mistake coaches make is taking borderline cases and trying to save them. I’m not talking about grades now, I’m talking about character. I want to know before a boy enrolls about his home life, and what his parents want him to be.”
And
“What are you doing here? Tell me why you are here. If you are not here to win a national championship, you’re in the wrong place. You boys are special. I don’t want my players to be like other students. I want special people. You can learn a lot on the football field that isn’t taught in the home, the church, or the classroom. There are going to be days when you think you’ve got no more to give and then you’re going to give plenty more. You are going to have pride and class. You are going to be very special. You are going to win the national championship for Alabama.”
And
“I’m no innovator. If anything I’m a stealer, or borrower. I’ve stolen or borrowed from more people than you can shake a stick at.”
And
“There is no sin in not liking to play; it’s a mistake for a boy to be there if he doesn’t want to.”
And
“I’m no miracle man. I guarantee nothing but hard work.”
And
“Don’t overwork your squad. If you’re going to make a mistake, under-work them.”
And
“Be aware of “yes” men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget – people win.”
And
“If there is one thing that has helped me as a coach, it’s my ability to recognize winners, or good people who can become winners by paying the price.”
And
“You take those little rascals, talk to them good, pat them on the back, let them think they are good, and they will go out and beat the biguns.”
And
“If you whoop and holler all the time, the players just get used to it.”
And
“I know what it takes to win. If I can sell them on what it takes to win, then we are not going to lose too many football games.”
And
“If you want to coach you have three rules to follow to win. One, surround yourself with people who can’t live without football. I’ve had a lot of them. Two, be able to recognize winners. They come in all forms. And, three, have a plan for everything. A plan for practice, a plan for the game. A plan for being ahead, and a plan for being behind 20-0 at half, with your quarterback hurt and the phones dead, with it raining cats and dogs and no rain gear because the equipment man left it at home.”
And
“My approach to the game has been the same at all the places I’ve been. Vanilla. The sure way. That means, first of all, to win physically. If you got eleven on a field, and they beat the other eleven physically, they’ll win. They will start forcing mistakes. They’ll win in the fourth quarter.”
And
“Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things.”
And
“Scout yourself. Have a buddy who coaches scout you.”
And
“The first time you quit, it’s hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don’t even have to think about it.”
And
“But there’s one thing about quitters you have to guard against – they are contagious. If one boy goes, the chances are he’ll take somebody with him, and you don’t want that. So when they would start acting that way, I used to pack them up and get them out, or embarrass them, or do something to turn them around.”
And
“There’s a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success.”
And
“People who are in it for their own good are individualists. They don’t share the same heartbeat that makes a team so great. A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat.”
And
“I told them my system was based on the “ant plan,” that I’d gotten the idea watching a colony of ants in Africa during the war. A whole bunch of ants working toward a common goal.”
And
“We can’t have two standards, one set for the dedicated young men who want to do something ambitious and one set for those who don’t.”
And
“I honestly believe that if you are willing to out-condition the opponent, have confidence in your ability, be more aggressive than your opponent and have a genuine desire for team victory, you will become the national champions. If you have all the above, you will acquire confidence and poise, and you will have those intangibles that win the close ones.”
And
“If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit – you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.”
And
“Don’t ever give up on ability. Don’t give up on a player who has it.”
And
“A good, quick, small team can beat a big, slow team any time.”
And
“I have always tried to teach my players to be fighters. When I say that, I don’t mean put up your dukes and get in a fistfight over something. I’m talking about facing adversity in your life. There is not a person alive who isn’t going to have some awfully bad days in their lives. I tell my players that what I mean by fighting is when your house burns down, and your wife runs off with the drummer, and you’ve lost your job and all the odds are against you. What are you going to do? Most people just lay down and quit. Well, I want my people to fight back.”
And
“If they don’t have a winning attitude, I don’t want them.”
And
“I have tried to teach them to show class, to have pride, and to display character. I think football, winning games, takes care of itself if you do that.”
And
“I always want my players to show class, knock’em down, pat on the back, and run back to the huddle.”
And
“I tell young players who want to be coaches, who think they can put up with all the headaches and heartaches, can you live without it? If you can live without it, don’t get in it.”
Wikipedia: Paul “Bear” Bryant