Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Truth

The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not…

Quote byAbraham Lincoln · 1809–1865

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in the House of Representatives (20 June 1848).

English (original)

The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially of governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.

— Abraham Lincoln

More from Abraham Lincoln