Abraham Lincoln Quotes

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don't deny it. I'd rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh — anything but work.

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.

You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.

The best way to predict your future is to create it

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could do for themselves.

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.

I am not concerned that you have fallen — I am concerned that you arise.

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men

When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

The Bible is not my book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma.

I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason, I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me.

A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

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.

Hypocrite: The man who murdered his parents, and then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.

You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!

Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.

In regards to this great Book [the Bible], I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.

Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then... find the way.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.

My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.

in times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

Force is all conquering, but it's victories are short lived.

It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent.

If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

That we we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander

Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.

The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.

no man who is resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention, still less can he afford to take the consequences, including the vitiation of his temper and the loss of self control, yield to larger things to which you show no more than equal rights, and yield to lesser ones though clearly your own, better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right, not even killing the dog, will cure the bite

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.

What is conservatism? Is it not the adherence to the old and tried against the new and untried?

The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but can not do at all, or can not so well do, for themselves – in their separate, and individual capacities.

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

If I am killed, I can die by once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again.

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me

Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling.

These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.

I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.

That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

Slavery is founded on the selfishness of man's nature - opposition to it on his love of justice. These principles are in eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow.

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.

Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories.

God must love the common man, he made so many of them.

With the Catching Ends the Pleasure of the Chase.

Suspicions which may be unjust need not be stated.

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.

Must a government be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?

Public opinion, though often formed upon a wrong basis, yet generally has a strong underlying sense of justice.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.

I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.

With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.

The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do themselves.

The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.

Seriously, I do not think I fit for the presidency.

All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.

You cannot have the right to do what is wrong!

If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.

We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.

I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views

Let the people know the truth and the country is safe.

Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory.

If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.

Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet.

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening the ax.

A jury too often has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor.

Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; but, if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her.

I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.

He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.

Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail.

Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is a positive good.

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.

Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.

I believe, if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class. There seems ever to have been a proneness in the brilliant and warm-blooded to fall into this vice.

People are just as happy as they choose to be.

Knavery and flattery are blood relations.

Lonely men seek companionship. Lonely women sit at home and wait. They never meet.

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.

I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.

I walk slowly, but never backwards.