Thoughts of Abraham Lincoln Quotes in English

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

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.

I have been driven many times upon 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 that day.

This is a world of compensations; and 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, can not long retain 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.

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 chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone 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.

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

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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 by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country; but I am reminded, in this connection, of a story of an old Dutch farmer who remarked to a companion once that ‘it was not best to swap horses while crossing streams’.

On the question of liberty, as a principle, we are not what we have been. When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that ‘all men are created equal’ a self evident truth; but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim ‘a self evident lie.'

There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite.

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.

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

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

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

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

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Whatever you are, be a good one.

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No man is poor who has a Godly mother.

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

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

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

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Every man's happiness is his own responsibility.

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I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

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

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

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.

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.

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.

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

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

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

My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.

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

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

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

All I have learned, I learned from books.

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Achievement has no color.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

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

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

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

You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.

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

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

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

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.

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

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

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

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Life is hard but so very beautiful.

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

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

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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.

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

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

All I ask for the negro is that if you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy.

- Negro Quote by Abraham Lincoln

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my axe.

- Abraham Lincoln Axe Quotes

There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.

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.

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

Abraham Lincoln Quotes in English

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

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

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

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No man is poor who has a Godly mother.

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I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.

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When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

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

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If you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him little, that little let him enjoy.

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A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade.

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A lawyer's advice is his stock and trade.

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Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief - resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser–in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.

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

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Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.

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What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.

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Do good to those who hate you and turn their ill will to friendship.

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No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.

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Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

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Abraham Lincoln Sayings in English

And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.

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

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A new book is like a friend that I have yet to meet.

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The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

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

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

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A capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.

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For people who like that kind of a book that is the kind of book they will like.

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In very truth he was, the noblest work of God - an honest man.

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Be not deceived. Revolutions do not go backward.

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

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

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

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

Abraham Lincoln Hustle Quote

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

A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.

I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life.

If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

I can make a General in five minutes but a good horse is hard to replace.

I cannot make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor colonization.

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

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

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.

You can tell the greatness of someone by what makes them angry.

Love is the chain to lock a child to its parent.

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

You have to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

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

Every person’s happiness is their own responsibility.

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

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.

I have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from others.

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

Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature - opposite to it, in his love of justice.

Having 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.

I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement I have the best of the bargain.

I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.

I never encourage deceit, and falsehood, especially if you have got a bad memory, is the worst enemy a fellow can have. The fact is truth is your truest friend, no matter what the circumstances are.

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

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.

In regard to this Great Book, 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.

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.

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.

I know not how to aid you, save in the assurance of one of mature age, and much severe experience, that you can not fail, if you resolutely determine, that you will not.

No man is good enough to govern another man, without that other’s consent. I say this is the leading principle - the sheet anchor of American republicanism.

My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don’t deny it. I’d rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh - anything but work.

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

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 sky and say there is no God.

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.

Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.

What is to be, will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.

- Quotation

Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.

Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling.

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.

I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.

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 will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.

Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.

Let us remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling.

I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America!

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 an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left to borrow from - so must it be with a new government

It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.

You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.

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 adaptation to effect His purpose.

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.

Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.

In law it is a good policy to never plead what you need not, lest you oblige yourself to prove what you can not.

An old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing a stream.

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.

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.

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

Four score 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.

I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

I will prepare and someday my chance will come.

Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed.

The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of generosity.

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

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.

Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories.

We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety clouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.

The United States government must not undertake to run the Churches. When an individual, in the Church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked.

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

The love of property and consciousness of right and wrong have conflicting places in our organization, which often makes a man’s course seem crooked, his conduct a riddle.

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what you will, is the great high-road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause.

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

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 defense.

If you think you can slander a woman into loving you, or a man into voting for you, try it till you are satisfied.

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.

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.

Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good.

The one victory we can ever call complete will be that one which proclaims that there is not one slave or one drunkard on the face of God’s green earth.

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.

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 that suits them better. This is a most valuable – a most sacred right – a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.

Sir, 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.

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.

How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn’t make it a leg.

In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.

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

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 it or overthrow it.

I desire to so conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, 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.

My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don’t deny it. I’d rather read, tell stories, crack jokes, talk, laugh — anything but work.

I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.

Property is the fruit of labor…property is desirable…is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

You think slavery is right and should be extended; while we think slavery is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.

I hold that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.

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

I distrust the wisdom if not the sincerity of friends who would hold my hands while my enemies stab me.

The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.

If we have no friends, we have no pleasure; and if we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by the loss.

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

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

I have a congenital aversion to failure.

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

Every man’s happiness is his own responsibility.

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.

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

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

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

Everybody likes a compliment.

If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again.

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.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.