Abraham Lincoln used to tell the story about a time he was splitting rails when a man carrying a rifle walked up to him and demanded that Lincoln look him directly in the eye. Lincoln stopped his work and obliged the man, who continued to silently stare at him for some minutes. Finally the man told Lincoln that he “had promised himself years ago that if he ever met a man uglier than himself, he would shoot him.” Lincoln looked at the man for a moment and said, “If I am uglier than you, go ahead and shoot—because I don’t want to live!”

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