Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal.”

“My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not to either save or destroy Slavery.”

“If ever this free people, if this Government itself is ever utterly demoralized, it will come from this incessant human wriggle and struggle for office, which is but a way to live without work.”

“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 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.”

“I am glad to see that a system of labor prevails under which laborers can strike when they want to.”

“When the hour comes for dealing with slavery, I trust I will be willing to do my duty though it cost my life.”

“Always remember: Life is for enjoying.”

“Let all Americans - let all lovers of liberty everywhere - join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and to keep it, forever worthy of the saving.”

“Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public.”

“Again I admonish you not to be turned from your stern purpose of defending your beloved country and its free institutions by any arguments urged by ambitious and designing men, but stand fast to the Union and the old flag.”

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

“I have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matterfor that I have determined for myself.”

“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”

“One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever.”

“Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration”

“The only security a man can ever have is the ability to do a job uncommonly well.”

“A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.”

“I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.”

“The one victory we can ever call complete will be that one which proclaims that there is not one slave or one drunkard on the face of God's green earth.”

“Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed. But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so: we still shall have the proud consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departed shade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment and adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, we never faltered in defending.”

“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.”

“Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.”

“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.”

“I can make more generals, but horses cost money.”