Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address (final text), March 4, 1861. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Roy P. Basler, vol. 4, p. 270 (1953)
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While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years.
— Abraham on Government
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years." in the context of "Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address (final text), March 4, 1861. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, ed. Roy P. Basler, vol. 4, p. 270 (1953)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Government" (Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989))
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Abraham
Abraham (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם, Modern Avraham Tiberian ʼAḇrāhām, Arabic: إبراهيم, Ibrāhīm, ʼAbrəham), born Abram (c. 1900 BC?), is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Midianites and kindred peoples, according to the three Abrahamic religions.
About Abraham
Abraham (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם, Modern Avraham Tiberian ʼAḇrāhām, Arabic: إبراهيم, Ibrāhīm, ʼAbrəham), born Abram (c. 1900 BC?), is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Midianites and kindred peoples, according to the three Abrahamic religions.
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