“All I ask for the negro is that if you not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little let him enjoy.”
Speech in Springfield, Illinois https://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/race-and-slavery-north-and-south-some-logical-fallacies/#comment-47553 (17 July 1858)
1850s
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Abraham Lincoln 618
16th President of the United States 1809–1865Related quotes

“God is where you let Him in.”
This expression originates with a statement of Kotzker Rebbe, who, when he was five years old asked his father "Where is God?" to which his father answered: "God is everywhere!" Rebbe then responded "No, I think God is only where you let Him in." As quoted in Innerspace : Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation and Prophecy (1990), by Aryeh Kaplan, p. 160.
Misattributed
“God is only where you let Him in.”
As quoted in Innerspace : Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation and Prophecy (1990), by Aryeh Kaplan, p. 160; This expression is said to have originated when he was five years old and asked his father "Where is God?" to which his father answered: "God is everywhere!" Rebbe then responded "No, I think God is only where you let Him in."
Variants:
Where is God to be found? In the place where He is given entry.
As quoted in The Sayings of Menahem Mendel of Kotsk (1995) by Simcha Raz and Edward Levin, p. 10
God is where you let Him in.
As quoted in Everyday Kabbalah: A Practical Guide to Jewish Meditation, Healing, and Personal Growth (1998)

Song lyrics, Knocked Out Loaded (1986), Brownsville Girl (with Sam Shepard)

“He may let go of God, but God does not let go of him.”
2:2 <!-- p. 317 -->
Paraphrased variant: Man can certainly flee from God... but he cannot escape him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God … but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in his hate.
Quoted in Simpson's Contemporary Quotations (1998) by James Beasley Simpson.
Church Dogmatics (1932–1968)
Context: Man can certainly keep on lying (and he does so); but he cannot make truth falsehood. He can certainly rebel (he does so); but he can accomplish nothing which abolishes the choice of God. He can certainly flee from God (he does so); but he cannot escape Him. He can certainly hate God and be hateful to God (he does and is so); but he cannot change into its opposite the eternal love of God which triumphs even in His hate. He can certainly give himself to isolation (he does so — he thinks, wills and behaves godlessly, and is godless); but even in his isolation he must demonstrate that which he wishes to controvert — the impossibility of playing the "individual" over against God. He may let go of God, but God does not let go of him.

“Life is God's novel. Let him write it.”
Quoted in Voices for Life (1975) edited by Dom Moraes

“Life is God's novel. Let him write it. ”