Quotessence
Home / Authors / Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

16th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsCivil WarPeopleWarGovernmentMaySlaveryShouldLiberty

Famous Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“I soon began to dream. ... I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. ... I left my bed and wandered downstairs. ... There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. 'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers, 'The President,' was his answer; 'he was killed by an assassin.''”

PeopleIfsDreamFacesHouseLeftPresidentWhiteAnswersNumbersActingHeardMetsBedSurpriseSoldierWhite HouseCoveredFuneralCorpsesWeepingAssassinsGazing
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“While I have often said that all men out to be free, yet I would allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to be; and next to them those white persons who argue in favor of making other people slaves. I am in favor of giving an opportunity to such white men to try it on for themselves.”

PeopleMenWantGivingTryingPersonsSaidNextOpportunityWhiteSlaveArguingFavorsWhite ManBe A Slave
Book:The collected works of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. Let north and south - 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. We shall have so saved it, that the succeeding millions of free happy people, the world over, shall rise up, and call us blessed, to the latest generations.”

PeopleIfsWorldLibertyPracticeMillionsForeverGenerationsPolicyLoversSucceedIndependenceBlessedUnionsSouthWorthySavedSavingGood WorkDeclarationDeclaration Of IndependenceHappy PeopleNorth And South
Book:The collected works of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“...I do not mean to say that this general government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world; but I do think that it is charged with the duty of preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself.”

ThinkingWorldMeanGovernmentLibertyDutyPreventing
Book:The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)
Create image

“...I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.”

PeopleIfsMadeIdeasHandsLibertyStruggleObjectsConstitutionOriginalsInstrumentsUnionsHumbleChosenAnxiousAlmightyOriginal IdeasPerpetuating
Book:The collected works of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views, and boldest action to bring it speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world; its beloved history, and cherished memories, are vindicated; and its happy future fully assured, and rendered inconceivably grand.”

WorldCountryGovernmentActionFormMemoriesViewsCommonLibertySavedBelovedReliefAssuredPerilForms Of GovernmentRelievedVindicatedCherished Memories
Book:Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln(1832-1865) (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition)
Create image

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. We cannot escape history. We will be remembered in spite of ourselves. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honour or dishonour, to the last generation. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, our last best hope of Earth.”

WarLightEarthLastsPastPeaceLosesGenerationsQuietDifficultyTrialsOccasionsRememberedSpiteHonourDogmaInadequateFieryHoping For The BestStormyBabylonDishonour
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“Peace will come soon to stay, and so come as to be worth keeping in all future time. It will then have proved that among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are sure their cases and pay the costs.”

MenPayCasesSuccessfulMilitaryCostAppealsBulletsFree ManBallotsFuture Time
Book:The Modern Library Civil War Bookshelf 5-Book Bundle: Personal Memoirs, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Red Badge of Courage, Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings, The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other mans rightsthat each community, as a State, has a right to do exactly as it pleases with all the concerns within that State that interfere with the right of no other State, and that the general government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with anything other than that general class of things that does concern the whole.”

BelieveDoeStatesWholeGovernmentIndividualI BelieveCommunityClassPrinciplesWisePleaseConcernLaborFruitEntitledInterfere
Book:Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln(1832-1865) (Volume 1 of 2 ) (EasyRead Super Large 24pt Edition)
Create image

“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.”

WantI CanUnderstandingWifeSlave
Book:The Modern Library Civil War Bookshelf 5-Book Bundle: Personal Memoirs, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Red Badge of Courage, Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings, The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“You may burn my body to ashes, and scatter them to the winds of heaven; you may drag my soul down to the regions of darkness and despair to be tormented forever; but you will never get me to support a measure which I believe to be wrong, although by doing so I may accomplish that which I believe to be right.”

BelieveMaySoulBodyI BelieveHeavenDarknessSupportForeverWindDespairAccomplishMy SoulRegionsDragAshes
Book:The Wit & Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Treasury of Quotations, Anecdotes, and Observations
Create image

“Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you.”

WarLawFightingSidesTermLossGainsCeaseAliensBoth SidesIdenticalIntercourseTreaties
Book:Lincoln on the Civil War: Selected Speeches
Create image