How hard, oh, how hard it is to die and leave one’s country no better than if one had never lived for it.

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

Remark (1850-09?) to William H. Herndon
    (Source)

After the Compromise of 1850. Recounted in a letter twenty years later (1870-03-06) from Herndon (Lincoln's law partner) to Ward H. Lamon (Lincoln's friend, US Marshal, and self-appointed bodyguard).