Edward Achorn > Quotes

“Baseball was mighty glamorous and exciting to me,” he remembered, “but there is no use in blinking at the fact that at that time the game was thought, by solid, respectable people, to be only one degree above grand larceny, arson and mayhem, and those who engaged in it were beneath the notice of decent society.”
― Edward Achorn, Fifty-Nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had

“Athletics had, indeed, arrived! “It was time to cheer, and cheer they did.”
― Edward Achorn, The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America's Game

“his hatred of slavery, keeping his focus on the political actions that would best advance the war effort and save the Union, carefully calibrating his actions to public opinion, to the intense irritation of such men as Chase and Douglass.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'

[Excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s 701-word second inaugural address, delivered at the United States Capitol on March 4, 1865.]”
― Edward Achorn , Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“A brilliant statistician who was friendly with the president, Kennedy informed the diplomat that Mary Todd Lincoln was holding a reception that afternoon; the two of them could go together, if the marquis would like.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“the day may not be far off when mind and soul, and not the color of his skin, shall mark the measure of a man.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“Lincoln believed that the ability to frame an argument and sway minds was the essence of power in a representative democracy”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“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," Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in 1837, two years before O'Sullivan's manifesto. "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.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“A brilliant statistician who was friendly with the president, Kennedy informed the diplomat that Mary Todd Lincoln was holding a reception that afternoon; the two of them could go together, if the marquis would like. Though Chambrun fretted that he had not yet been formally presented to the president, Kennedy assured him there would be no breach of diplomatic protocol, since Lincoln, harried by duty, did not attend his wife’s levees.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“Lieber Code, a set of rules for fighting the war”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“term. While fierce prejudice persisted, black soldiers had made a compelling case through their service that, in courage and devotion to country, they were the equals of white men and had earned the right to be treated as such.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln

“Oh God, we pray that thou wilt continue to smile upon us,” he said, “blessing … all portions of our common country, North, East, South, and West. Come not out in wrath against us, but forgive us our national sins, our ambitions and pride, our oppressions and our forgetfulness of others. We pray thee give wisdom to our rulers and to all the people in the discharge of their official duties, and grant, we entreat thee, to us that our peace and unity may still be preserved.”
― Edward Achorn, The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History

“It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces.”
― Edward Achorn, Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln