As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

Take all that you can of this book upon reason, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier man. (When a skeptic expressed surprise to see him reading a Bible)

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God cannot retain it.

My greatest concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are concerned with your failure.

The more sects we have the better. They are all getting somebody in (to the Church) that the others could not: and even with the numerous divisions we are all doing tolerably well.

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

The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next.

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.

Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it, ‘all men are created equal, except...

There has never been but one question in all civilization-how to keep a few men from saying to many men: You work and earn bread and we will eat it.

In this sad world of ours sorrow comes to all and it often comes with bitter agony. Perfect relief is not possible except with time. You cannot now believe that you will ever feel better....

If Friendship is your weakest point, you are the strongest person in the world.

I was a little cross.I ask pardon. If I do get up a little temper I have no sufficient time to keep it up.

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar

In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for, and against the same thing at the same...

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

A farce or comedy is best played; a tragedy is best read at home.

Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

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

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.

We shall need all the anti-slavery feeling in the country, and more; you can go home and try to bring the people to your views, and you may say anything you like about me, if...

It is not in our forming battlements or bristling seacoasts, or our Army and Navy that makes America great – but rather our reliance in the law of liberty and the religious law God has...

The

Achievement has no color

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

One company can serve some of your needs all of the time, or all of your needs some of the time, but never both.

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

In regards to this great Book [the Bible], I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through...

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

Let no feeling of discouragement preyupon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men...

I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Anybody will do for you, but not for me. I must have somebody.

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

In your temporary failure there is no evidence that you may not yet be a better scholar, and a more successful man in the great struggle of life, than many others, who have entered college...