Skip to content

Some of you will be successful, and such will need but little philosophy to take them home in cheerful spirits; others will be disappointed, and will be in a less happy mood. To such, let it be said, “Lay it not too much to heart.” Let them adopt the maxim, “Better luck next time”; and then, by renewed exertion, make that better luck for themselves.

— Abraham Lincoln Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society (1859)

Another quote →

Topics

More quotes by Abraham Lincoln

Without the military help of the black freedman, the war against the South could not have been won.

Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature — opposition to it, in his love of justice.

Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854)

Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories.

We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.

Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.

All Abraham Lincoln quotes →

You may also like

We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known.

Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook (1962)

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

Confucius

Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power.

Martin Buber Between Man and Man (1965)

The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Abraham Lincoln (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.