I hate [slavery] because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world -- enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites -- causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty -- criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest.- Abraham Lincoln, 1858
As a comment on slavery, Lincoln's statement is true and poignant. But what I love about it is its more general character: it speaks to the essential conflict between eternal values and expedient action. Insert other examples of the latter in place of "slavery" and you'll see what I mean -- "waterboarding" for example.
