ABRAHAM LINCOLN QUOTES II
U.S. President (1809-1865)
You say [slavery] is wrong; but don't you constantly object to anybody else saying so? Do you not constantly argue that this is not the right place to oppose it? You say it must not be opposed in the free States, because slavery is not there; it must not be opposed in the slave States, because it is there; it must not be opposed in politics, because that will make a fuss; it must not be opposed in the pulpit, because it is not religion. Then where is the place to oppose it?
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
debate with Stephen Douglas, October 13, 1858
We shall sooner have the bird by hatching the egg than by smashing it.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
attributed, Wit and Wisdom of the American Presidents
In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
meditation on the will of God, September 1862
I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
letter to George E. Pickett, February 22, 1841
No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent. I say this is the leading principle--the sheet anchor of American republicanism.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech at Peoria, Illinois, in reply to Senator Douglas, October 16, 1854
I wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine; that if the union of these states and the liberties of this people shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States and to their posterity in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves and not for me. I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office seekers, but with you, is the question: Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generations?
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech, February 11, 1861
What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech, February 27, 1860
It is best not to swap horses while crossing the river.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
reply to National Union League, June 9, 1864
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.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
annual message, December 3, 1861
Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech at Peoria, Illinois, in reply to Senator Douglas, October 16, 1854
Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other right.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech to Congress, December 3, 1861
When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
attributed, Recollections of the Civil War
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.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
letter to George E. Pickett, February 22, 1841
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.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
letter to Allen N. Ford, August 11, 1846
If we have no friends, we have no pleasure; and if we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by the loss.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
letter to Joshua F. Speed, February 25, 1842
Received as I am by the members of a legislature the majority of whom do not agree with me in political sentiments, I trust that I may have their assistance in piloting the ship of state through this voyage, surrounded by perils as it is; for if it should suffer wreck now, there will be no pilot ever needed for another voyage.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech, February 21, 1861
The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
letter to Joseph Gillespie, July 13, 1849
I am not accustomed to the language of eulogy. I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women. But I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech, March 18, 1864
Fourscore 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. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that 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.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
I know that the great volcano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil spirit that reigns there, is belching forth the lava of political corruption in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green spot or living thing; while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the wave of hell, the imps of that evil spirit, and fiendishly taunting all those who dare to resist its destroying course with the hopelessness of their efforts; and, knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept away. Broken by it, I, too, may be; bow to it, I never will.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
speech to the Sub-Treasury, Sangamon Journal, March 6, 1840