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

I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.

The best way to predict your future is to create it.

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

Whatever you are, be a good one.

My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.

Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.

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

If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. -Speech at Clinton, Illinois, September 8, 1854.

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. But this is not true. You are sure to be happy again. Knowing this, truly believing it will make you less miserable now. I have had enough experience to make this statement.

Achievement has no color

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.

If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it.

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

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

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

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.

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 time.

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 this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.

I don't like to hear cut and dried sermons. No—when I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

No man is poor who has a Godly mother.

I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason, I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me.

A house divided cannot stand.

in times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.

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

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

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)

I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.

The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.--as quoted in THE RIVER OF WINGED DREAMS

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.

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

Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind through the eye, is the great invention of the world...enabling us to converse with the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and space.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter usfrom the support of a cause we believe to be just.

Writing is the great invention of the world.

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

The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma.

I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down.

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.

All I have learned, I learned from books.

A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.

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 can be engaged in.

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

As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor; – let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap – let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; – let it be written in Primmers, spelling books, and in Almanacs; – let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it. I am anxious to afford some alleviation of your present distress. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You can not now realize that you will ever feel better. Is not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have had experience enough to know what I say; and you need only to believe it, to feel better at once.

My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.

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

Get books, sit yourself down anywhere, and go to reading them yourself.

You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.

If frienship is your weakest point then you are the strongest person in the world.

Have I not destroyed my enemy when I have made him into my friend?

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

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

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.

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves

Hypocrite: The man who murdered his parents, and then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.

When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.

. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.- President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg address, November 19, 1863

Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong.

Abraham Lincoln was asked by an aide about the church service he had attended. Lincoln responded that the minister was inspired, interesting, well-prepared, eloquent and the topic relevant. The aide said, “Then it was a good service?”Lincoln responded, “No.” The aide protested,“But, Mr. President, you said that the minister was inspired, interesting, well-prepared, eloquent, and that the topic was relevant.”“Yes,” replied Lincoln, “but he didn’t challenge us to do any great thing.

It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to infidelity.

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 that will help... When the hour comes for dealing with slavery, I trust I will be willing to do my duty though it cost my life.

If this country is ever demoralized, it will come from trying to live without work.

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

In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.

I am growing old enough not to care much for the MANNER of doing things.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all - but to believe in the unseen is a triumph and a blessing.

What is to be, will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.[Lincoln's maxim and philosophy]

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.

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.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

No man was to be eulogized for what he did; or censured for what he did or did not do. All of us are the children of conditions, of circumstances, of environment, of education, of acquired habits and of heredity; moulding men as they are and will for ever be.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

If any man ceases to attack me, I never remember the past against him.

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

Achievement has no COLOR.

Respected Teacher,My son will have to learn that all men are not just, all men are not true. But teach him also that for ever scoundrel there is a hero; that for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader. Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.It will take time, I know; but teach him, if you can, that a dollar earned is far more valuable than five found.Teach him to learn to lose and also to enjoy winning.Steer him away from envy, if you can.Teach him the secret of quite laughter. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to tick.Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books... but also give him quiet time to ponder over the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hill.In school teach him it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat.Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tells him they are wrong.Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough.Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when every one is getting on the bandwagon.Teach him to listen to all men but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad. Teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness.Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders; but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob… and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.Treat him gently; but do not cuddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel.Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patience to be brave. Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind.This is a big order; but see what you can do. He is such a fine little fellow, my son.(Abraham Lincoln’s letter to his son’s Head Master)

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

The struggle of today, is not altogether for today - it is for a vast future also.

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

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

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

But for this book we could not know right from wrong.

I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.

I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.

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

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure. . . . If, today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us'; but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.

The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.

My dear Sir.Yours of the 13th. is just received. My engagements are such that I can not, at any very early day, visit Rock-Island, to deliver a lecture, or for any other object.As to the other matter you kindly mention, I must, in candor, say I do not think myself fit for the Presidency. I certainly am flattered, and gratified, that some partial friends think of me in that connection; but I really think it best for our cause that no concerted effort, such as you suggest, should be made.Let this be considered confidential. Yours very truly,{Abraham Lincoln}

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

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.

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 planted in us.

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name, liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names, liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty.

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 negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.

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 are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on

Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.

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

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

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

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.

I fear you do not fully comprehend the danger of abridging the liberties of the people. Nothing but the very sternest necessity can ever justify it. A government had better go to the very extreme of toleration, than to do aught that could be construed into an interference with, or to jeopardize in any degree, the common rights of its citizens.

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

The will of God prevails. 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 time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party - and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaption to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true - that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either *saved* or *destroyed* the Union without human contest. Yet the contest began, And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case.

The democracy of to-day hold the liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing when in conflict with another man's right of property...This is a world of compensations; and he 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, can not long retain it.All honor to Jefferson - to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so embalm it there, that to-day, and in all coming days, it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the very harbingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression. Your obedient Servant,[Abraham Lincoln]April 6, 1859, in a letter to MA State Rep Henry L. PierceSpringfield, Ill.

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

I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years.

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.

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." &“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people”– –

Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damages morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hung

You cannot have the right to do what is wrong!

I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.

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 more easily.

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

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

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

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.

I'm a slow walker but I never walk back.

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away it is best to let him run.

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.

I claim not to have controlled events but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honour or dishonour to the latest generation.

The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation.

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.

If you don't want to use the army I should like to borrow it for a while. Yours respectfully

Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration.

I sincerely wish war was a pleasanter and easier business than it is but it does not admit of holidays.

Your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.

What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried against the new and untried?

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

... That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.

I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be new views.

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

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.

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

Democracy is the government of the people by the people for the people.

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

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

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.

Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you and in the end you are sure to succeed.

Were it not for my little jokes I could not bear the burdens of this office.

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.

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

I don't know who my grandfather was I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

It is my pleasure that my children are free and happy and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.

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

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end when I come to lay down the reins of Ewer I have lost every other friend on earth I shall at st have one friend left and that friend shall be down inside of me.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end ... I have lost every other friend on earth I shall at least have one friend left and that friend shall be down inside of me.

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

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition.

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

Without the assistance of the Divine Being ... I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail.

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.

While the people retain their virtue and vigilence no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.

Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one. This is a most valuable and sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.

Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people or too weak to maintain its own existence?

The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all or cannot so well do for themselves in their separate and individual capacities.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.

A house divided against itself cannot stand - I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free.

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

Do not worry eat three square meals a day say your prayers be courteous to your creditors keep your digestion good exercise go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy but my friend these I reckon will give you a good lift.

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

I claim not to have controlled events but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds.

Do not worry eat three square meals a day say your prayers be courteous to your creditors keep your digestion good exercise go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy but my friend these I reckon will give you a good life.

I have found that most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Marriage is neither heaven nor hell it is simply purgatory.

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

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition.

I'm a slow walker but I never walk back.

Hold on with a bulldog grip and chew and choke as much as possible.

You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve protect and defend" it.

This struggle and scramble for office for a way to live without work will finally test the strength of our institutions.

Public opinion though often formed upon a wrong basis yet generally has a strong underlying sense of justice.

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves.

We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

God must have loved the plain people: He made so many of them.

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.

Every man over forty is responsible for his face.

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.

Honest statesmanship is the wise employment of individual meannesses for the public good.

If they do kill me I shall never die another death.

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.

Important principles may and must be flexible.

When you have got an elephant by the hind leg and he is trying to run away it is best to let him run.

I sincerely wish war was a pleasanter and easier business than it is but it does not admit of holidays.

This country with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.

Let us have faith that Right makes Might and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.

The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation.

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

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

I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate we cannot consecrate we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.

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

With the catching ends the pleasures of the chase.

With high hope for the future no prediction is ventured.

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

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.

Seriously I do not think I am fit for the presidency.

I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. To the man who asked how he liked it he said: 'If it wasn't for the honour of the thing I'd rather walk.'

I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end ... I have lost every friend on earth I shall have one friend left and that friend shall be down inside me.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.

The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation.

Lincoln on Grant: "He makes things get. Wherever he is, he makes things move.