Abraham Lincoln Quotes

We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us.

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

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.

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.

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

It has so happened in all ages of the world that some have labored, and others have, without labor, enjoyed a large proportion of the fruits.

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.

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

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

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

True patriotism is better than the wrong kind of piety.

I have great respect for the semicolon; it is a mighty handy little fellow.

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap.

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

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

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. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed.

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

For my part, I desire to see the time when education - and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry - shall become much more general than at present, and should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy period.

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

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

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