Abraham Lincoln

I am not concerned that you have fallen; I am concerned that you arise.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.

Let me not be understood as saying that there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed.
Abraham Lincoln - in a book review
People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that is my religion.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

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.
Abraham Lincoln - (attributed)
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?
Abraham Lincoln - (attributed)
When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number.

My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.

You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.

No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory shall swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of nature.
Abraham Lincoln - Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865
With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.

Neither Heaven nor Hell. It is simply Purgatory.

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.

What is conservativism? Is it not the aherence to the old and tried against the new and untried?

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Abraham Lincoln - speech in Washington D.C., 1865
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln - A House Divided
I do not believe the Union will disolve, I believe it will become all one thing, or all the other.

No man resolved to make the most of himself has time to waste on personal contention.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it.
Abraham Lincoln - On Marriage
No matter how much cats fight there always seem to be plenty of Kittens.

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.

I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.

Those who would deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.
Abraham Lincoln - in a letter to J. M. Cutts, October 26, 1863
Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention.
Abraham Lincoln - letter to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, July 18, 1864
Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other.... The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

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 one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.

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.

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all... Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better... And yet this is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again.

The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do themselves.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.

That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he makes so many of them.

Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln - Gettysburg Address
...and that this country shall have a new birth of freedom, and that this government, of the people, for the people, by the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.

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.

- Abraham Lincoln