Lincoln's Famous Quotes

"I frequently make mistakes myself, in the many things I am compelled to do hastily." - from the May 20, 1863 Letter to General Rosecrans

"In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity." - from the December 1, 1862 Annual Message to Congress

"May our children and our children's children to a thousand generations, continue to enjoy the benefits conferred upon us by a united country, and have cause yet to rejoice under those glorious institutions bequeathed us by Washington and his compeers." - from the October 4, 1862 Speech at Frederick, Maryland

"...I do not mean to say that this government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world; but I do think that it is charged with the duty of preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself." - from the September 17,1859 Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio.

"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." - from the September 11, 1858 Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois

"Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the invader and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and persecute the people." - from the May 27, 1863 Letter to John M. Schofield

"War at best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most terrible." - from the June 16, 1864 Speech at Philadelphia

"I don't believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everbody else." - from the March 6, 1860 Speech at New Haven, Connecticut

"In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." - from the August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment

"I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion." - from the July 31, 1846 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity

"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." - from the July 10, 1858 Speech at Chicago, Illinois

Quotations and References to Subjects

100,000 slaves are now in the United States military service

Abolishing slavery in Washington, DC

Abraham or "Abram"

Act in such a manner as to create no bad feeling

Affected contempt of refinement

All know where he went in at; can't tell where he will come out at

All agreed on this except South Carolina and Georgia

And the war came

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master

Ask of you military success, and I will risk the dictatorship

Bad promises are better broken than kept

Better for their own good than if they had been successful

Boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death

Bread that his own hands have earned

Came forward and made a virtue of necessity

Colonization

Common right of humanity

Compensated Emancipation

Conspiracy to perpetuate and nationalize slavery

Constitution alludes to slavery three times

Could not afford to make money

Counterfeit logic

Crime to tell him that he is free!

Danger of third-parties

Declaring the African slave trade piracy

Direct while appearing to obey

Dirge of one who has no title to himself

Distinction between a purpose and an expectation

Don't think it will do him a bit of good either

Dred Scott

Endeavoring to blow up a storm that he may ride upon

Estimated as mere brutes—as rightful property

Events control me; I cannot control events

Explanations explanatory of explanations explained

Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage

Father's request for money

Female Spy

First Overtures for Surrender from Davis

Five-star Mother

Forbids the marrying of white people with negroes

Forever forbid the two races living together

Fort Pillow Massacre

Four Score and Seven Years Ago

Frankly that I am not in favor of negro citizenship

Free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia

Fugitive Slave law

Further Democratic Party Criticism

General Grant is a copious worker

General McClellan's Tired Horses

Get along without making either slaves or wives of negroes

Gingerbread

God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy

Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free

Government was made for the white people

Grant—very meager writer or telegrapher

Grant's Exclusion of a Newspaper Reporter

Gratuitous Hostility

Hard to affirm a negative

House divided against itself cannot stand

I can't spare that man, he fights!

I must say I do not think myself fit for the Presidency

I authorize no bargains and will be bound by none

I shall go to the wall for bread and meat

I like the system which lets a man quit when he wants to

Idealization which so easily runs into the commonplace

If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong

If you do not like him, let him alone

Ills you fly from have no real existence

In the course of ultimate extinction

Irresponsible Newspaper Reporters and Editors

Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness?

It is bad to be poor

Jibes and sneers in place of argument

Judges are as honest as other men, and not more so

Just leave her alone

Lee's Army, and not Richmond, is your true objective point

Letter Suggesting a Beard

Lincoln's Definition of Democracy

Localized Repeal of Writ of Habeas Corpus

Malice Toward None, with Charity for All

Man cannot prove a negative

Massacre of Three Hundred Colored Soldiers

Men interested to misunderstand

Mexico

Middle ground between the right and the wrong??

Missouri Compromise

Mixing of blood by the white and black races

More a man speaks the less he is understood

Mother of Five Sons Who Have Died

Mrs. Lincoln's Rebel Brother-in-law Killed

Need not have her for either, I can just leave her alone

Needs New Tires on His Carriage

Negro Troops

Never stir up litigation

News of Grant's Capture of Vicksburg

No wrong without its remedy

No man can be silent if he would

Not appearing on the appointed wedding day

Not Be Much Oppressed by a Debt Which They Owe to Themselves

Not seldom ragged, usually patched, and always shabby

Not Best to Swap Horses When Crossing a Stream

Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time

One long step removed from honest men

Order expelling all Jews from your department

Order of Retaliation

Ox jumped half over a fence

Pardoned

Patronizing if not contemptuous condescension

Pay and send substitutes

Peace at any price rose on all sides

Printing Money

Probably forever forbid their living together

Public opinion in this country is everything

Repeal of the Missouri Compromise

Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law

Repentance before forgiveness

Reply to Secretary Seward's Memorandum

Revolutions never go backward

Revolutions do not go backward

Right to eat the bread he earns

Right makes might

Secession is the essence of anarchy

Seward's Bid for Power

Sherman's March to the Sea

Should be permitted to keep the little he has

Slave-traders

Slavery was recognized, by South and North alike, as an evil

Smallest are often the most difficult things to deal with

Story of the Emancipation Proclamation

Strikes

Suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong

Take advice with candid readiness

Taking care to cut his expressions close

That Some Should Be Rich Shows That Others May Become Rich

The animal must be very slim somewhere

Thought of their mind—articulated in his tongue

Too Lazy to Be Anything but a Lawyer

Too silly to require any sort of notice

Trembled for his country

Two Sons Who Want to Work

Uncommon power of clear and compact statement

Wanting to work is so rare a want

War at the Best Is Terrible

We Accepted this War, and Did Not Begin it

We do not want to dissolve the Union; you shall not

What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing

Who has the right needs not to fear

Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad

Wilmot Proviso

Wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief

World Has Never Had a Good Definition of the Word Liberty

Would Make War Rather than Let the Nation Survive

Would Accept War Rather than Let it Perish

You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it

You were right and I was wrong

You are not lazy, and still you are an idler