Stephen Samuel Wise

“ My answer to mothers and fathers is -- enviable, even glorious is your lot if you give your sons or bless their self-dedication to the highest and holiest of causes in which a people was ever engaged. Remember that you American men and women give your sons to no ordinary war, though outwardly it be war and nothing more. Remember that America is not in war for the sake of war. ”

“ The achievements of the President, his great services, the unequalled clarity and power with which he molded and applied the ideals of America -- all these things many of my fellow Americans for a time seem, alas, to forget. The real difficulty of the situation has been that the President thinks straight, that he is an honest man, that he does not resort to political subterfuge, that he will not indulge in political equivocation, and the President is blamed on these grounds. ”

“ Forget not that the sacrifice is to be for that which is more precious than life, even as holy as love -- the liberty of men, the security of peace, the faith of nations. Your readiness to sacrifice may make sacrifice unasked hereafter, and your children's children, yea, all the children of men, shall dwell amid peace and security if the nobleness of the fathers be equal to the heroism of the sons. ”

“ We have taken up arms which we shall never ground until the world be made safe in the only way in which the life of nations dwelling together can be made safe, by democracy with peace and healing on its wings. ”

“ Less than a year ago the moral leadership of the world was in our grasp. We had entered upon the great adventure to save the world, to make and to keep it free, to rebuild an order of life that should be just and righteous altogether. ”

“ The President is not unerring, but his place in history is secure. He has done great things and will stand as one of the mightiest figures of a mighty epoch. It is not needful or possible at this time, whilst yet he lives, to say that Wilson is a Washington or another Lincoln, but he is a great American. He is one of the great presidents of American history. Let us remember that it is not only of the dead that it may be said in the word of [Drinkwater] , but of the living: When the high harp we magnify, and the sure visions celebrate, and worship greatness passing by, ourselves are great. ”