When he was assassinated, it was the South, as well as the American nation, which had lost its best friend, because he alone among the Republican leaders had the wisdom to see that the divided House could only be restored by justice and kindness; and if there are any defects in its restoration to-day, they are chiefly due to the baleful spirit of injustice and hatred which the Republicans took over from the Abolitionists.
His superiority to his political associates in constructive statesmanship is measured by his superiority in personal character.
There are many men who are able to forgive the enemies of their country, but there are few who can forgive their personal enemies.

I need not rehearse the well-known instances of Lincoln's magnanimity.

He not only cherished no resentment against men who had intentionally and even maliciously injured him, but he seems at times to have gone out of his way to do them a service.

This is, perhaps, his greatest distinction.
Lincoln's magnanimity is the final proof of the completeness of his self-discipline.

The quality of being magnanimous is both the consummate virtue and the one which is least natural.