Campaign

“ Get your competency first, your balance-wheel, your independence, your established base of supplies; then plan your campaign. The world is big, infinitely big, to the human being who can command. It’s a little mud ball to the other who has to dance whenever some one else whistles. ”

“ Though when the campaign went well the public was ready to take the credit as a personal tribute, when the campaign went illy they sought a scapegoat, and the general, who might have been a hero, was sent to the wilderness perhaps because those busy men in Congress or Parliament thought that the army could do without that little appropriation which was needed for some other purpose. ”

“ A campaign can perfectly well be conceived in which an opponent, consciously inferior in the field, will avoid action throughout, and by such a plan can actually win the campaign in the end. Historical instances of this, though rare, exist. ”

“ Some time ago, a Republican Senator, whom his colleagues had honored with the presidency pro tempore of the Senate, gave expression to these significant sentiments:
The purification of politics is an iridescent dream. Government is force. Politics is a battle for supremacy. Parties are the armies. The Decalogue and the Golden Rule have no place in a political campaign. ”

“ It is further true that not only may a campaign be successful in the military sense, and yet in the largest historical sense be a failure, but, quite evidently, the actions in a campaign may each be successful and yet the campaign a failure; or each action may, on the whole, fail, and yet that campaign be a success. As the old formulæ go, “You can win every battle and lose your campaign.” And, again, “A great general does not aim at winning battles, but at winning his campaign.” ”

“ At the opening of a campaign, when under marching orders for an important service, their own honour, duty to the public and to themselves, and a regard to military propriety, will not suffer them to persist in a measure which would be a violation of them all. ”

“ But, oh, how grand a blessing for the human race could we sit at their feet beholding them in the flesh and receive their teachings! If only they, the fathers, might take us by the hand and lead us through the devious tangles of public policy! To-day we meet here in perplexed division as to the standard-bearer for our next campaign. ”

“ I have not written a book since the campaign. I did not write this book at all. It is the result of the editorial literary skill of Mr. William Bayard Hale, who has put together here in their right sequences the more suggestive portions of my campaign speeches.
And yet it is not a book of campaign speeches. It is a discussion of a number of very vital subjects in the free form of extemporaneously spoken words. I have left the sentences in the form in which they were stenographically reported. ”

“ The purpose of a Presidential campaign is really stupendous in its object and sweep. It is to influence quickly, up to the point of decisive action, the individual opinion of millions of men, spread over millions of square miles, and that, too, in the face of a vigorous opposing campaign to influence them the other way. The whole vast district of country is mapped out and organized on broad lines and into the smallest details.
Strong brainy men give themselves wholly to the task, and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars within a few months. ”

“ Eben has suggested a plan of campaign and I shall adopt it. We must all pretend to be asleep. Let the English enter the loft, and, when the opportunity arises, let the English be on the ground and the patriots above them. ”

“ Plans of campaign are modified by circumstances, the genius of the chief, the nature of the troops, and topography. There are good and bad plans of campaign, but sometimes the good fail from misfortune or mismanagement, while the bad succeed by caprices of fortune. ”

“ As they stand, without regard to further advances, they offer a brilliant future to a campaign for control To that campaign, each [Pg 186] and every one of us can address himself with the prospect of adding his mite of energy to a tremendous movement for human betterment. ”

“ What battles between opponents! What conflicts in business!
In politics, coveting national honors, men spend months in laying out a campaign. A vast human mechanism is organized with ramifications extending through the nation. ”

“ One electioneering campaign in a quiet town would give a salutary lesson to any politician who resolutely set himself to penetrate into the secret life of the society whose suffrages he sought; he would learn why it is that the agents of all the factions treat the drink-seller with deference. ”

“ Resolved, That while we shall miss from our councils and general convention our brother and comrade, the sunlight of whose presence upon the hard-fought battle-fields enabled us to bear more easily our long marches and severe engagements of the four years’ campaign, we know that the order came from One who doeth all things well, and are certain that in the dispensation of eternity we shall concur in its wisdom. ”

“ And it is also well to remember that, when the campaign had drifted away from its original program and repelled a large number of men who at first intended to support you—and of this I could give you many striking instances!—a considerable number of Republican papers and speakers found it necessary, at the eleventh hour just before the election, to hold up once more before the people your letter of acceptance, which during the campaign they seemed to have forgotten, in order to revive the first impression. ”

“ The ardent zeal which you have displayed during the whole course of the campaign to the eastward, and your endeavors to cherish harmony among the officers of the allied powers, and to dispel those unfavorable impressions which had begun to take place in the minds of the unthinking, from misfortunes which the utmost stretch of human foresight could not avert, deserved, and now receive, my particular and warmest thanks. ”

“ In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. ”

“ The brilliant successes of the last year, and the promising appearances on the opening the campaign of the present, all cooperated to lead the Congress and the state legislatures to continue the high tone of sensibility and dignity, becoming a free and independent people, just emancipated from foreign domination. ”

“ It is however not easy to gain from books a clear general idea of a campaign or a battle, harder perhaps than to obtain a similar grasp of the work of a legislator, or of the drift of a social change. ”

“ A dense cloud enveloped this whole enterprise, and it is not even improbable, that the campaign may become a dead failure even before it has accomplished the half of its projected and loudly vaunted course. ”

“ Let political preferment and partisan proclivities bide their time, and as a united and one-minded people, devote heart and mind, strength and money, to the prosecution of the campaign, without considering what may be its duration, and without fear of circumstance or expenditure. ”

“ Through patronage and offices everybody is to serve his friends and his party, and to secure his political position. Some of the party leaders seem to me similar to children enjoying a long-expected and ardently wished-for toy. Some of the leaders are as generals who abandon the troops in a campaign, and take to travel in foreign parts. ”

“ That the minister plenipotentiary of these States at the court of Versailles, the minister of France in Pennsylvania, and the minister of France, be respectively informed that the operations of the next campaign must depend on such a variety of contingencies to arise, as well from our own internal circumstances and resources as the progress and movements of our enemy, that time alone can mature and point out the plan which ought to be pursued. ”

“ I am persuaded that if I could obtain authority for the purpose, I would have a corps of such men trained, uniformly clad, equip'd and ready in every respect to act at the opening of the next campaign. The ridicule that may be thrown on the color, I despise, because I am sure of rendering essential service to my country. ”

“ But it is impossible that campaigns can be either projected or conducted with success or advantage to the country, unless under the auspices of the Government. Individuals can not know the situation of our relations, either foreign or domestic. A campaign may be designed by the Government for the purpose of effecting a particular object; for instance, a surprise of the enemy. It may require all the resources of the country, the greatest secrecy, and that the whole force of the country should be in readiness to act in concert so as to effect the design. ”

“ All these difficulties are increased by the successes of the enemy, which clog our measures by dispiriting the army and the people. But I do not despair; One vigorous and grand campaign may yet put a glorious period to the war. All depends on proper exertions. We have to choose glory, honor, and happiness, or infamy, disgrace, and misery. ”

“ The Republican Party has always in great part resembled an army of volunteers, in this State, for the campaign, rather than an army of regulars hired for whatever service may be required of them. [Applause.] Enthusiasm for a good cause has always been its principal element of strength. ”

“ You must remember we have a political campaign on. All kinds of criticisms and charges fill the air; investigations are the rule. The purpose of them is easy to understand when you recall the fact that there is a political campaign in front of us. ”

“ In no instance, however, has this refutation been more striking than it was in the election just behind us. A campaign more earnest we have never had. The number of citizens with whose earnestness the possession of office or the hope of spoil had anything to do, was no doubt unprecedentedly small. ”

“ Then in no other hands can be more safely lodged this greatest trust in the gift of a great people. Was public office created for the welfare of the people and the prosperity of the country? Then under his leadership in the coming campaign may we confidently hope to achieve these great ends in human government. ”

“ The only one which can be given has just been alluded to, and is, that either the political objective points should be selected according to the principles of strategy, or their consideration should be postponed till after the decisive events of the campaign. ”

“ After one campaign, must there not be time given to organize for another? Who has fallen out, who are the new recruits, who are engaged, who will marry, who have separated, who has lost his money? Before we can safely reorganize we must not only examine the hearts but the stock-list. ”

“ MIGHT AND RIGHT If Might made Right, life were a wild-beasts' cage;
If Right made Might, this were the golden age;
But now, until we win the long campaign
Right must gain Might to conquer and to reign. ”

“ It would be useless to disguise the fact that at the beginning you will, in a certain sense, labor under a disadvantage. The conduct of the campaign, as well as what came after it, has left an unfavorable impression on the minds of a large element which, as I believe, you will naturally desire to have on your side, and part of which has become somewhat estranged from you. ”

“ Members are emphatically assured that every possible development of the campaign has been fully considered during the past two years, and it is advanced with absolute confidence that nothing unforeseen can happen to mar its successful conclusion. ”

“ Apart from the intrinsic merits of the work,—as a valuable contribution to the history of the late war—revealing facts connecting with a campaign that has not been understood even by our own people,—it is hoped that the laudable object of those who have incurred the expense of republishing it, will secure for this production of a gallant and meritorious officer an extended sale. ”

“ It will add dignity and strength to the campaign when it is found that the zealous, earnest, and intelligent co-operation of men of mature years like you is given to it. The Whig party to which you belonged had but one serious fault—there were not enough of them after 1840. ”

“ If it's an educational thing, then I say it ought to educate and educate in politics, Mr. President.
"I tell you, I'm for war! Let's go in to win! When the fall's work is done, in fact, from this time on, Mr. President, the farmers of this county ought to organize for the campaign. Cut and dry our tickets, cut and dry our plans. If we 11 begin early and work together we can strangle the anacondy that is crushing us, and the eagle of victory will perch on our banners on the third of November, and the blood-suckers trouble us no more forever." ”

“ That speech was your keynote utterance for the campaign which would give your election its meaning. Upon it you stand, and it makes it impossible for me to support you, and to write the article you suggest. ”

“ For you conducted the campaign under the open skies, and that though there was a city of some importance near at hand, and moreover you encouraged your men to work hard and to take risks, not merely by giving orders, but by your own personal example. ”

“ In this heroic struggle, so sturdily maintained during the past twenty-five years against the competitive system and its well trained hosts; the campaign, which has been marked by many mistakes, followed by frequent defeat and disastrous failure, has always proved successful as an educator, both for the toilers and the great middle classes, who sympathized with them. ”