Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)

Remark (1865-02) to Joshua Speed
    (Source)

Recorded in a letter (1866-01-12) from Speed to William H. Herndon, reprinted in Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis (ed.), Herndon’s Informants (1998). The date is based on Speed recalling the incident around the remark being "about ten days previous to his last inauguration" (1865-03-04).