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''aphorism'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜encounter｜ENC｜20260904152658-50-•
Whigs must adopt the convention system, Lincoln argued, for “while our opponents use it, it is madness in us not to defend ourselves with it.” Nominating conventions created party harmony and united the faithful behind one candidate. “If two friends aspire to the same office, it is certain that both cannot succeed. Would it not, then, be much less painful to have the question decided by mutual friends some time before, than to snarl and quarrel until the day of the election, and then both be beaten by the common enemy?” To illustrate the point, Lincoln employed a scriptural aphorism that he would famously use in 1858: “he whose wisdom surpasses that of all philosophers has declared that ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand.’ ”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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