Lincoln’s quarrel with Shields was his last personal encounter. In
later years it became his duty to give an official reprimand to a young
officer who had been court-martialed for a quarrel with one of his
associates. The reprimand is probably the gentlest on record:
“Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can
spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all
the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss
of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than
equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own.
“Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for
the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.”
“THOROUGH” IS A GOOD WORD.
Some one came to the President with a story about a plot to accomplish
some mischief in the Government. Lincoln listened to what was a very
superficial and ill-formed story, and then said: “There is one
thing that I have learned, and that you have not. It is only one
word--‘thorough.’”
Then, bringing his hand down on the table with a thump to emphasize his
meaning, he added, “thorough!”