Quotessence
Home / Authors / Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

16th U.S. President

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsCivil WarPeopleWarGovernmentMaySlaveryShouldLibertyThinkingWorldSlaveReligiousGivingInspirationalLaborLawKnowsLawyer

Famous Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“I am a patient man--always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. Still, I must save this government, if possible. What I cannot do, of course I will not do, but it may as well be understood, once for all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed.”

IfsMenGivingWellsMayStillsGovernmentChristianCoursesGamesTermWillingUnderstoodForgivingPatientLeavingAvailableSurrenderCardsRepentance
Book:The collected works of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“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.”

MenGivingHas BeensSaidGovernmentTogetherGrowsChanceRightsShareEqualWeakStrongerExpectedIgnorantDenialWiserThey SaidViciousEqual RightsAffirmingUpward Mobility
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“Young man, if God gives me four years more to rule this country, I believe it will become what it ought to be-what its Divine Author intended it to be-no longer one vast plantation for breeding human beings for the purpose of lust and bondage. But it will become a new Valley of Jehoshaphat, where all the nations of the earth will assemble together under one flag, worshipping a common God, and they will celebrate the resurrection of human freedom.”

IfsMenGivingYearsBelieveHumansCountryEarthTogetherYoungPurposeI BelieveNationsHuman BeingsCommonFourDivineOughtGive MeLustCelebrateYoung ManValleysFour YearsFlagsResurrectionBondageBreedingHuman FreedomPlantations
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”

IfsMenWantInspirationalGivingCharacterWisdomHumorCommunityLeadershipFreedomLeaderPowerPersonalityWise WordsPoliticianWords Of WisdomIntegrityTestsAdversityIntelligenceLawyerCleverHard TimesPatrioticHardshipTough TimesOvercoming AdversityCharacter BuildingInspiring LeaderGreat LeadershipLeadership By Famous LeadersAbsolute PowerInspirational MilitaryPower CorruptsPower And ControlCall Of DutyGreatest LeadershipIntegrity And CharacterIntegrity CharacterHonor And IntegrityPower StruggleBuilding CharacterYour HonorMan Of IntegrityMilitary LeaderSales LeadershipLeadership IntegrityAdversity And CharacterCharacter And ReputationInspirational CharacterCharacter Of A ManMilitary LeadershipToo Much PowerCharacter FlawsAbramEthics And IntegrityStrong LeadersPower GovernmentPower PoliticsPersonal CharacterCorrupt PowerWise LeadersPower ManControlling PowerCharacter ChangeTest Of CharacterDesire For PowerHouse DividedPersonality And CharacterWeakness Of CharacterPresidential Power
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds.”

GivingGodNationsWorkBusinessHistorySocietySpeechCharityStriveWoundsCivil WarMaliceAmerican Civil WarFirmnessInaugurationInauguralChristian HeritageInaugural AddressGiving To CharityCharity And GivingCharity WorkCharity And LoveInaugural SpeechUs Civil War
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.”

GivingProblemReadingKeysTasteCapacityAccessFacilityRelishSolved ProblemsUnsolved ProblemsTeachability
Book:Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings
Create image

“no man who is resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention, still less can he afford to take the consequences, including the vitiation of his temper and the loss of self control, yield to larger things to which you show no more than equal rights, and yield to lesser ones though clearly your own, better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right, not even killing the dog, will cure the bite”

MenGivingStillsSelfShowsTimeLossPathRightsDogEqualConsequenceKillingIncludingCuresYieldBitesTemperSelf ControlSparesEqual RightsContentionSpare Time
Book:The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Including the Full Text of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Together with the Essay on Lincoln
Create image

“Rules of living Don't worry, eat three square meals a day,say your prayers, be courteous to your creditors, keep your digestion good,steer clear of biliousness,exercise, go slow and go easy. May be there are other things that your special case requires to make you happy, but my friend, these, i reckon, will give you a good life.”

InspirationalGivingMayThreeEasyPrayerCasesWorryClearSpecialExerciseMy FriendsMealsGood LifeSquaresMake You HappySteersDigestionCourteousCreditors
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be restrained. In the midst of this, however, He, from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated.”

GivingReligiousExpressionBlessingFlowArmyPreparedForgottenSurrenderMidstRighteousPrincipalCan NotJoyousInsurgentEvacuationRichmond
Book:Selected writings of Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“Your good mother tells me you are feeling very badly in your new situation. Allow me to assure you it is a perfect certainty that you will, very soon, feel better - quite happy - if you only stick to the resolution you have taken to procure a military education.... On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.”

IfsGivingFeelsFeelingsMotherLosesPerfectSituationTakenMilitaryRegretGiving UpSticksPerseveranceContraryCertaintyResolutionFeel BetterGood MotherNew Situations
Book:Abraham Lincoln's Wit & Wisdom
Create image

“The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This, say its advocates, is free labor-the just and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way for all-gives hope to all, and energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all.”

WorldWayGivingHelpingEnergyWorkProgressLandConditionsHard WorkLaborToolsAccountsImprovementGenerousLengthWagesProsperousPrudentBeginnersSurplusLabor And Capital
Book:Lincoln on Democracy
Create image

“I am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, and highest sense. But I cannot give liberty of conscience to the pope and his followers, the papists, so long as they tell me, through all their councils, theologians, and canon laws that their conscience orders them to burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when they find their opportunity.”

GivingChildrenLongLawReligionOrderOpportunityLibertyCuttingWifeAtheismHighestConscienceMy WifeMy ChildrenThroatFollowersPopeTheologianCouncilCanon
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This our convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions, and they resolved to so frame the constitution that no man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.”

PeopleIfsMenGivingShouldWarReasonGovernmentObjectsKingsUnderstoodConstitutionCongressFollowingOppressionPretendingConventionsProvisionInvolving
Book:An autobiography of Abraham Lincoln: consisting of the personal portions of his letters, speeches and conversations
Create image

“Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of "Liberty to all" the principle that clears the path for all-gives hope to all-and, by consequence, enterprize [sic], and industry to all.”

GivingHumansHeartDreamCausesResultsLibertyPrinciplesPathIndustryConsequenceConstitutionUnionsProsperityPrimariesAmerican DreamHuman Heart
Book:Lincoln on Democracy
Create image

“I told myself, "Lincoln, you can never make a lawyer if you do not understand what demonstrate means." So I left my situation in Springfield, went home to my father's house, and stayed there till I could give any proposition in the six books of Euclid at sight. I then found out what "demonstrate" means, and went back to my law studies.”

IfsGivingMeanBookHomeLawFoundFatherHouseLeftEducationSituationStudySixSightMathematicsMathLawyerPropositionsEuclid
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom, and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best lights He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.”

KnowsGivingMayLongStillsWarEndsLightPurposeReligiousPerfectFailingTerribleErrorsMortalsPerceiveAcknowledgeFaith In GodAlmightyGod KnowsErringTerminationGod Knows Best
Book:Lincoln on Democracy
Create image

“It is better then, to save the work while it is begun. You have done the labor; maintain it - keep it. If men choose to serve you, go with them; but as you have made up your organization upon principle, stand by it; for as surely as God reigns over you, and has inspired your mind, and given you a sense of propriety, and continues to give you hope, so surely will you still cling to these ideas, and you will at last come back after your wanderings, merely to do your work over again.”

IfsMenGivingMindMadeStillsIdeasDoneLastsGivenWorkPrinciplesLaborOrganizationInspiredWanderOver YouReignPropriety
Book:LINCOLN – Complete 7 Volume Edition: Biographies, Speeches and Debates, Civil War Telegrams, Letters, Presidential Orders & Proclamations: Including the Introduction by Theodore Roosevelt & 3 Biographies: The Every-day Life of the President, Lincoln by Carl Shurz and Abraham Lincoln by Joseph H. Choate
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