Lincoln, Abraham
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Lincoln, Abraham
Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man s appetite by legislation and makes crimes out of things that are not crimes.
Lincoln, Abraham
Control
If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.
Lincoln, Abraham
Confidence
If elected I shall be thankful; if not, it will be all the same.
Lincoln, Abraham
Elections
If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what you will, is the great high-road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause.
Lincoln, Abraham
Causes
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Lincoln, Abraham
Control
If I care to listen to every criticism, let alone act on them, then this shop may as well be closed for all other businesses. I have learned to do my best, and if the end result is good then I do not care for any criticism, but if the end result is not good, then even the praise of ten angels would not make the difference.
Lincoln, Abraham
Critics and Criticism
You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.
Lincoln, Abraham
Deception
He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever met.
Lincoln, Abraham
Communication
If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can t fool all of the people all of the time.
Lincoln, Abraham
Deceit
Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
Lincoln, Abraham
Commonplace
Whatever you are, be a good one.
Lincoln, Abraham
Greatness
He reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents, and then when the sentence was about to be pronounced, pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was orphan.
Lincoln, Abraham
Crime and Criminals
When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it s best to let him run.
Lincoln, Abraham
Common Sense
If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
Lincoln, Abraham
Critics and Criticism
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.
Lincoln, Abraham
Choice
Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.
Lincoln, Abraham
Freedom
To correct the evils, great and small, which spring from want of sympathy and from positive enmity among strangers, as nations or as individuals, is one of the highest functions of civilization.
Lincoln, Abraham
Brotherhood
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Lincoln, Abraham
Character
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how -- the very best I can. And I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me will not amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
Lincoln, Abraham
Character
We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.
Lincoln, Abraham
Character
The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty.
Lincoln, Abraham
Duty
I dream of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.
Lincoln, Abraham
Dreams
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong it s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
Lincoln, Abraham
Crisis
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn t make it a leg.
Lincoln, Abraham
Dogs
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work ;we are in.
Lincoln, Abraham
Charity
Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us; to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Lincoln, Abraham
Freedom
Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.
Lincoln, Abraham
Determination
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.
Lincoln, Abraham
Freedom
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Lincoln, Abraham
Democracy
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other s consent.
Lincoln, Abraham
Democracy
Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Lincoln, Abraham
Death and Dying
Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
Lincoln, Abraham
Freedom
What I do say is that no man is good enough to govern another man without that other s consent.
Lincoln, Abraham
Control
Do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of Independence.
Lincoln, Abraham
Freedom
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.
Lincoln, Abraham
Books - Reading
The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend.
Lincoln, Abraham
Enemies
Everybody likes a compliment.
Lincoln, Abraham
Compliments
I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.
Lincoln, Abraham
Friends and Friendship
No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.
Lincoln, Abraham
Lies and Lying
I don t like that man. I m going to have to get to know him better.
Lincoln, Abraham
Friends and Friendship
Military glory --the attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood.
Lincoln, Abraham
Glory
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.
Lincoln, Abraham
History and Historians
A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.
Lincoln, Abraham
Fear
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
Lincoln, Abraham
Fools and Foolishness
All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother.
Lincoln, Abraham
Family
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that s my religion.
Lincoln, Abraham
Feelings
A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gal. So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey which catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the highroad to his reason.
Lincoln, Abraham
Friends and Friendship
No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
Lincoln, Abraham
Fights and Fighting
Towering genius disdains a beaten path.
Lincoln, Abraham
Genius
Every man over forty is responsible for his face.
Lincoln, Abraham
Faces
If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Lincoln, Abraham
Faces
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Lincoln, Abraham
Faith
Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.
Lincoln, Abraham
Generals
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
Lincoln, Abraham
Failure
It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.
Lincoln, Abraham
God
A person will be just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Lincoln, Abraham
Happiness
A Government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Lincoln, Abraham
Government
Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
Lincoln, Abraham
Friends and Friendship
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
Lincoln, Abraham
Future
A jury too often has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor.
Lincoln, Abraham
Law and Lawyers
Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.
Lincoln, Abraham
Law and Lawyers
I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
Lincoln, Abraham
Excellence
We know nothing of what will happen in future, but by the analogy of experience.
Lincoln, Abraham
Experience
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
Lincoln, Abraham
Procrastination
The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
Lincoln, Abraham
Justice
Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory.
Lincoln, Abraham
Marriage
God must love the common man, he made so many of them.
Lincoln, Abraham
Humankind
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. We here highly resolve that the 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, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Lincoln, Abraham
Liberty
With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.
Lincoln, Abraham
Laughter
I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason, I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me.
Lincoln, Abraham
Marriage
Public sentiment is everything, without it nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed.
Lincoln, Abraham
Leaders and Leadership
I can make a General in five minutes but a good horse is hard to replace.
Lincoln, Abraham
Horses
The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.
Lincoln, Abraham
Honor
And in the end, it s not the years in your life that count. It s the life in your years.
Lincoln, Abraham
Life and Living
With high hope for the future, no prediction is ventured.
Lincoln, Abraham
Hope
There are few things wholly evil or wholly good. Almost everything, especially of government policy, is an inseparable compound of the two, so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.
Lincoln, Abraham
Judgment and Judges
If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
Lincoln, Abraham
Humor
If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
Lincoln, Abraham
Judgment and Judges
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
Lincoln, Abraham
Listening
We must ask where we are and whither we are tending.
Lincoln, Abraham
Planning
Honest statesmanship is the wise employment of individual meanness for the public good.
Lincoln, Abraham
Politicians and Politics
Few can be induced to labor exclusively for posterity; and none will do it enthusiastically. Posterity has done nothing for us; and theorize on it as we may, practically we shall do very little for it, unless we are made to think we are at the same time doing something for ourselves.
Lincoln, Abraham
Posterity
The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts.
Lincoln, Abraham
President
Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
Lincoln, Abraham
Poverty and The Poor
Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is a positive good in the world.
Lincoln, Abraham
Property
All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
Lincoln, Abraham
Prayer
Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy, but my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift. -
Lincoln, Abraham
Worry
Don t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.
Lincoln, Abraham
Worry
You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.
Lincoln, Abraham
Persuasion
Avoid popularity if you would have peace.
Lincoln, Abraham
Popularity
I will prepare and some day my chance will come.
Lincoln, Abraham
Preparation
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man s character, give him power.
Lincoln, Abraham
Power
Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man s appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.
Lincoln, Abraham
Prohibition
Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seems not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and I believe all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts.
Lincoln, Abraham
Prohibition
I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
Lincoln, Abraham
Progress
Must a government be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Lincoln, Abraham
Power
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
Lincoln, Abraham
Peace
I am not concerned that you have fallen -- I am concerned that you arise.
Lincoln, Abraham
Perseverance
I m a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Lincoln, Abraham
Progress
I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards.
Lincoln, Abraham
Perseverance
If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend.
Lincoln, Abraham
Persuasion
You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
Lincoln, Abraham
Responsibility
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.
Lincoln, Abraham
Resolution
I laugh because I must not cry. That is all. That is all.
Lincoln, Abraham
Tears
A house divided against itself cannot stand -- I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.
Lincoln, Abraham
Unity
Let the people know the truth and the country is safe.
Lincoln, Abraham
Truth
A universal feeling, whether well or ill founded, cannot be safely disregarded.
Lincoln, Abraham
Public
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
Lincoln, Abraham
Tact and Tactfulness
Seriously, I do not think I fit for the presidency.
Lincoln, Abraham
Self-esteem
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed but I am bound to live the best life that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right and part from him when he goes wrong.
Lincoln, Abraham
Truth
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Lincoln, Abraham
Slavery
Having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts.
Lincoln, Abraham
Respectability
What kills the skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
Lincoln, Abraham
Publicity
Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.
Lincoln, Abraham
Time and Time Management
Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and loss of self control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.
Lincoln, Abraham
Quarrels
He who molds the public sentiment... makes statues and decisions possible or impossible to make.
Lincoln, Abraham
Sentiment
Friends, I agree with you in Providence; but I believe in the Providence of the most men, the largest purse, and the longest cannon.
Lincoln, Abraham
Providence
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Lincoln, Abraham
Reality
Slavery is founded on the selfishness of man s nature -- opposition to it on his love of justice. These principles are in eternal antagonism; and when brought into collision so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow.
Lincoln, Abraham
Slavery
In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.
Lincoln, Abraham
Slavery
When I m getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say.
Lincoln, Abraham
Thoughts and Thinking
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.
Lincoln, Abraham
Soldier
The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.
Lincoln, Abraham
Self-improvement
I don t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
Lincoln, Abraham
Self-improvement
To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
Lincoln, Abraham
Silence
These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.
Lincoln, Abraham
Capitalism
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. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights.
Lincoln, Abraham
Capitalism
The Lord prefers common looking people. That is why he made so many of them.
Lincoln, Abraham
Appearance
Every person is responsible for his own looks after 40.
Lincoln, Abraham
Appearance
When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.
Lincoln, Abraham
Enthusiasm
I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend.
Lincoln, Abraham
Danger
I don t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
Lincoln, Abraham
Ancestry
People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Lincoln, Abraham
Enjoyment
Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance.
Lincoln, Abraham
Education
I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Lincoln, Abraham
Action
As our case is new, we must think and act anew.
Lincoln, Abraham
Action
What is conservatism? It is not adherence to the old and tried, but against the new and untried?
Lincoln, Abraham
Conservatives
I believe, if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class. There seems ever to have been a proneness in the brilliant and warm-blooded to fall into this vice.
Lincoln, Abraham
Alcohol and Alcoholism
It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever continue to struggle. It is the same spirit that says, You work and toil and earn bread, and I ll eat it.
Lincoln, Abraham
Conflict
I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.
Lincoln, Abraham
Ambiguity
Those who write clearly have readers, those who write obscurely have commentators.
Lincoln, Abraham
Ambiguity
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition.
Lincoln, Abraham
Ambition
That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.
Lincoln, Abraham
Wealth
My father taught me to work, but he did not teach me to love it.
Lincoln, Abraham
Work
Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories.
Lincoln, Abraham
Victory
We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.
Lincoln, Abraham
Vow
Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest.
Lincoln, Abraham
Will and Will Power
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Lincoln, Abraham
Vice
Wanting to work is so rare a merit that it should be encouraged.
Lincoln, Abraham
Work
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I d spend six sharpening my ax.
Lincoln, Abraham
Work
The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
Lincoln, Abraham
Voting
Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet.
Lincoln, Abraham
Voting