"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in."
— Abraham Lincoln
With Malice Toward None With Charity
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.
About this quote
Lincoln spoke these words on March 4, 1865, at his Second Inaugural Address, just weeks before the Civil War's end. Rather than celebrating an imminent Union victory, he offered a call for reconciliation — refusing to demonize the defeated South. Lincoln himself considered this speech the best he ever wrote. The address is inscribed alongside the Gettysburg Address inside the Lincoln Memorial, and is widely regarded as one of the most profound pieces of American political oratory.
Source
Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
