To brag little, to lose well,
To crow gently if in luck,
To pay up, to own up,
To shut up if beaten,
Are the virtues of a sportingman.
–Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1841-1935, former Justice of the Supreme Court

Abraham Lincoln, of course, was a lawyer and a politician. I think he lived by the above instructions, if unknowingly. He was also a great storyteller.

He explained it this way: “They say I tell a great many stories; I reckon I do, but I have found in the course of a long experience that common people, take them as they run, are more easily informed through the medium of a broad illustration than in any other way, and as to what the hypercritical few may think, I don’t care!”

Good advice to all politicians, and lawyers, today!