Quotes By Abraham Lincoln

Public opinion in this country is everything.

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

Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this.

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

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

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

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.

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

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

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.

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

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

Whatever you are, be a good one.

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

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.

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.

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

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

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end... 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.

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.

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

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.

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

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

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.

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

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

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