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Abraham Lincoln Quotes
1809–1865 United States
Abraham Lincoln (12 February 1809 – 15 April 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Initially entering politics as a Whig, he became a member of the US congress from Illinois, and later the first Republican president, leading Union forces throughout the moral, constitutional, political and military crises of the American Civil War, during which he abolished slavery and strengthened the U.S. government.
United States Lawyers Politicians Also known as: Abe Lincoln, Abraham lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln, Abraham, The Gettysburg Address
Random Abraham Lincoln quote
351 quotes
Don't kneel to me, that is not right. You must kneel to God only, and thank him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy.
Tour of Richmond (1865)
What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?
Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold.
On Democratic Government (1864)
Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators.
The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
God created all men free, giving to each the same rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Tour of Richmond (1865)
Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
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 can be engaged in.
We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.
They will never shoulder a musket again in anger, and if Grant is wise, he will leave them their guns to shoot crows with and their horses to plow with. It would do no harm.
Tour of Richmond (1865)
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.
'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,' ... That is the electric cord ... that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together.
Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope. The power of hope upon human exertion, and happiness, is wonderful.
All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1866)
Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better.
Their thinking it right, and our thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the whole controversy.
Allow the humblest man an equal chance (1860)
Is there no danger to liberty itself, in discarding the earliest practice, and first precept of our ancient faith?
Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854)
The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.
Speech of the Sub-Treasury (1839)
Topics Abraham Lincoln is quoted on
Works
Original quote from William Penn (1693) · 1
Illinois House Journal (1837) · 3
The Lyceum Address (1838, speech) · 4
The Suicide's Soliloquy (1838) · 1
Speech of the Sub-Treasury (1839, speech) · 1
My Childhood's Home I See Again (1844) · 4
Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854, speech) · 10
Letter to Joshua F. Speed (1855, letter) · 1
Speech on the Dred Scott Decision (1857, speech) · 1
Lincoln–Douglas debates (1858) · 7
Speech at Chicago (1858, speech) · 3
The House Divided speech (1858, speech) · 6
Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society (1859, speech) · 6
Autobiographical Sketch Written for Jesse W. Fell (1859) · 4
Letter to Henry L. Pierce (1859, letter) · 1
Speech (1859, speech) · 1
A Short Autobiography (1860) · 6
Allow the humblest man an equal chance (1860) · 7
Cooper Union speech (1860, speech) · 6
Letter to Alexander H. Stephens (1860, letter) · 1
Speech at Hartford (1860, speech) · 2
Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861, speech) · 6
Speech in Independence Hall (1861, speech) · 1
Speech to Germans at Cincinnati, Ohio (1861, speech) · 3
Letter to Horace Greeley (1862, letter) · 2