Abraham Lincoln Quotations
"The Great Emancipator" and sixteenth President of the United States.
- "'A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gal.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey which catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the highroad to his reason."
- "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
- "All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."
- "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing."
- "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
- "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
- "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."
- "As an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left to borrow from - so must it be with a government. "
- "Avoid popularity if you would have peace."
- "Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm."
- "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
- "Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories."
- "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing: 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."
- "Corporations have been enthroned. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people...until wealth is aggregated in a few hands...and the Republic is destroyed."
- "Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people."
- "Die when I may, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower where ever I thought a flower would grow."
- "Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser - in fees, expenses, and waste of time. "
- "Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy; but, my friend, these I reckon will give you a good life."
- "Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived."
- "He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help."
- "Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed. "
- "I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards."
- "I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number."
- "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."
- "I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book."
- "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. "
- "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 of me."
- "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."
- "I don't know who my grandfather was; I'm much more concerned to know what his grandson will be."
- "I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."
- "I fear explanations explanatory of things explained. "
- "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits that strict justice."
- "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day."
- "I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice, and have received a great deal of kindness not quite free from ridicule."
- "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."
- "I regard no man as poor who has a godly mother."
- "I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come."
- "If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four sharpening the axe."
- "If I were two faced, would I be wearing this one?"
- "If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee. "
- "If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
- "If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend."
- "In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere. "
- "It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
- "It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong."
- "Lonely men seek companionship. Lonely women sit at home and wait. They never meet."
- "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
- "Must a government be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?"
- "My father taught me to work; he did not teach me 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."
- "My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
- "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."
- "No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens."
- "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
- "Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. "
- "Property is the fruit of labor - property is desirable - is a positive good in the world. "
- "Sorrow comes to all...Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better and yet you are sure to be happy again."
- "Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality."
- "Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves."
- "Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals. "
- "That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well."
- "The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."
- "The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend."
- "The better part of one's life consists of his friendships."
- "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."
- "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. "
- "The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why He made so many of them."
- "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."
- "The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty."
- "Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle."
- "Truth is generally the best vindication against slander. "
- "We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
- "Whatever you are, be a good one. "
- "Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."
- "Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail. "
- "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."
- "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds. . . to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."
- "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."
- "You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. "
- "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
- "You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. "
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