Abraham Lincoln Quotes

646 Sourced Quotes

It is bad to be poor. I shall go to the wall for bread and meat, if I neglect my business this year as well as last.

Abraham Lincoln
And whereas this House desires to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot of soil which the blood of our citizens was so shed was, or was not, our own soil.

Abraham Lincoln
We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.

Abraham Lincoln
I trust that as He shall further open the way, I will be ready to walk therein, relying on His help and trusting in His goodness and wisdom.

Abraham Lincoln
I believe the declaration that 'all men are created equal' is the great fundamental principle upon which our free institutions rest.

Abraham Lincoln
I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone.

Abraham Lincoln
Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make her happy and contented; and there is nothing I can imagine that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the effort.

Abraham Lincoln
I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding females.

Abraham Lincoln
If all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government.

Abraham Lincoln
And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased him to assign as a dwelling-place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.

Abraham Lincoln
Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of equal rights of menours began, by affirming those rights. They said, some men are too ignorant, and vicious, to share in government. Possibly so, said we; and, by your system, you would always keep them ignorant, and vicious. We proposed to give all a chance; and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant wiser; and all better, and happier together.

Abraham Lincoln
If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that 'all men are created equal,' and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another.

Abraham Lincoln
I believe I shall never be old enough to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to talk about.

Abraham Lincoln
I am struggling to maintain the government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it.

Abraham Lincoln
May the Almighty grant that the cause of truth, justice, and humanity, shall in no wise suffer at my hands.

Abraham Lincoln
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.

Abraham Lincoln
I hold that if the Almighty had ever made a set of men that should do all the eating and none of the work, he would have made them with mouths only and no hands, and if he had ever made another class that he intended should do all the work and none of the eating, he would have made them without mouths and with all hands.

Abraham Lincoln
As labor is the common burden of our race, so the effort of some to shift their share of the burden onto the shoulders of others is the great durable curse of the race.

Abraham Lincoln
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
Nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world.

Abraham Lincoln
I have neither time nor disposition to enter into discussion with the Friend, and end this occasion by suggesting for her consideration the question whether, if it be true that the Lord has appointed me to do the work she has indicated, it is not probable that he would have communicated knowledge of the fact to me as well as to her.

Abraham Lincoln
On the whole, my impression is that mercy bears richer fruits than any other attribute.

Abraham Lincoln
If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions, not wholly unworthy of its almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly, alone, hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors.

Abraham Lincoln
Ready are we all to cry out and ascribe motives when our toes are pinched.

Abraham Lincoln
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.

Abraham Lincoln
Much is being said about peace; and no man desires peace more ardently than I. Still I am yet unprepared to give up the Union fora peace which, so achieved, could not be of much duration.

Abraham Lincoln
It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the free institutions we enjoy, have developed the powers, and improved the condition, of our whole people, beyond any example in the world.

Abraham Lincoln
But let the past as nothing be. For the future my view is that the fight must go on.

Abraham Lincoln
I certainly know that if the war fails, the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed, if I could do better. You think I could do better; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do better; therefore I blame you for blaming me.

Abraham Lincoln
We should avoid planting and cultivating too many thorns in the bosom of society.

Abraham Lincoln