351 quotes
It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world.
Lincoln–Douglas debates (1858)
All I ask for the negro is that if you not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little let him enjoy.
I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
Speech in Independence Hall (1861)
Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the elevation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them.
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.
Recalled in a letter from Joshua Speed in Herndon's Lincoln (1890)
If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
The Life and Public Service of Abraham Lincoln (1865)
Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind.
All through life, be sure and put your feet in the right place, and then stand firm.
As recalled by Rebecca R. Pomroy in Echoes from hospital and White House (1884)
We know nothing of what will happen in future, but by the analogy of experience.
He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
Lincoln the Lawyer (1906)
Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.
With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
No oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters.
More rogues than honest men find shelter under habeas corpus.
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
Excellent Quotations for Home and School (1888)
Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong.
Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854)
I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly, those who desire it for others. When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations … is the only true sovereign of a free people.
No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty.