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Quote#Politics & Power

No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king…

Quote byAbraham Lincoln · 1809–1865

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Lincoln–Douglas debates (1858), Seventh and Last Joint Debate with Steven Douglas, at Alton, Illinois (15 October 1858).

English (original)

No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

— Abraham Lincoln

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