| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 47433 |
| QUOTATION: | Man you can define; but the true essence of any man, say, for instance, of Abraham Lincoln, remains the endlessly elusive and mysterious object of the biographer’s interest, of the historian’s comments, of popular legend, and of patriotic devotion. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Josiah Royce (1855–1916), U.S. philosopher. Originally published 1900. The Conception of Immortality, repr. In The Religious Philosophy of Josiah Royce (1952). |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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