| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 39272 |
| QUOTATION: | The Gettysburg speech is at once the shortest and the most famous oration in American history. Put beside it, all the whoopings of the Websters, Sumners and Everetts seem gaudy and silly. It is eloquence brought to a pellucid and almost gem-like perfection—the highest emotion reduced to a few poetical phrases. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | H.L. (Henry Lewis) Mencken (1880–1956), U.S. journalist, critic. Originally published in the Smart Set (May 1920). The Vintage Mencken, ch. 15, p. 78, ed. Alistair Cooke, Vintage (1956). |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| WORKS: | Mencken Collection. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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