“And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.”

Letter Nine (4 November 1904)
Letters to a Young Poet (1934)

Source: The Year of Magical Thinking

Source: City of Fallen Angels

With the century, vol. 1

Statement before his fight with George Foreman (31 March 1973)

Source: Father and Child Reunion (2001), p. 132.

Source: Jo's Boys

Source: The Fountain Overflows

1850s, The Present Aspect of the Slavery Question (1859)
Context: Such is the present aspect of the slavery question. For myself, I believe that the faith in which the government was founded still survives. I believe that the spirit of despotism which now says to the country, 'I will rule or ruin', will hear the imperial voice of the conscience of the American people, recognizing that justice and prosperity walk hand in hand, saying, 'You will do neither'. I believe that God did not hide this continent through all time as the spot whereon a nation should be planted upon the only principle that can render a nation as permanent as the race, to suffer the experiment to fail within a century. I believe these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Do you believe it? If aye, let us go into the battle, and God speed the right.