Quotes from Abraham Lincoln

Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.

If a man had more than one life, I think a little hanging would not hurt this one; but after he is once dead, we cannot bring him back, no matter how sorry we may be; so the boy shall be pardoned.

He who would be no slave must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.

Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make her happy and contented; and there is nothing I can imagine that would make me more unhappy than to fail in the effort.

Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people to exclude slavery, voted down? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.

It would astonish if not amuse the older citizens to learn that I (a strange, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working at ten dollars per month) have been put down as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.

Never regret what you don't write.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

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

Character is the tree, reputation is the shadow.

Character is like a tree, and reputation is like its shadow.

If you trust, you will be disappointed occasionally, but if you mistrust, you will be miserable all the time.

Let us renew our trust in god, and go forward without fear.

And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.

We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.

If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.

The people when rightly and fully trusted will return the trust.

I dared not trust the case on the presumption that the court knows everything. In fact, I argued it on the presumption that the court didn't know anything.

We trust, sir, that God is on our side. It is more important to know that we are on God's side.

I never trusted a man who never smoked or drank.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.

History is not history unless it is the truth.

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander