Quotes from Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln, considering a Cabinet nominee: "He is a Radical without the petulance and fretfulness of many radicals.

I think confidence comes from doing something well, working at it hard, and you build it up. It's not something you're born with. You have to build the confidence as you go along.

Whatever it is that you do, if you have that passion and desire for it, that's the most important thing.

Those who knew Lincoln described him as an extraordinarily funny man. Humor was an essential aspect of his temperament. He laughed, he explained, so he did not weep.