- [1856] You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
- It has been my experience that people who have no vices have very few virtues.
- America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
- You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
- Everything I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
- 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.
- [Gettysburg Address, 1863] The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
- I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.
- He will have to learn, I know, that all people are not just- that all men and women are not true. Teach him that for every scoundrel there is a hero that for every enemy there is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick.
- I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
- 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.
- I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know who his grandson will be.
- No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
- 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.
- The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.
- It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
- Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
- I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to men. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.
- As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
- Things may come to those who wait. But only the things left by those who hustle.
- That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.
- Whatever you are, be a good one.
- The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
- Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
- Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and loss of self-control.
- I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.
- [on Steven Douglas, his opponent in the 1858 Illinois Senatorial election and the 1860 presidential election] His argument is as thin as the homeopathic soup made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had been starved to death.
- Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
- [when accused of being two-faced] Really, if I were two faced would I be wearing this one?
- Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
- Just think of such a sucker as me as president! ['Sucker' was a contemporary nickname which Illinoians had for themselves.]
- I don't know who my grandfather was; I am concerned to know what his grandson will be.
- The desire to work is so rare that is must be encouraged wherever it is found.
- No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.
- Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet...The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
- Let us have faith that right makes right; and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.
- Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
- [to a messenger in 1862, when polygamy had been outlawed ] Go back and tell Brigham Young that if he will let me alone I will let him alone.
- [ in a debate, after Stephen Douglas called him 'two- faced'] I leave it to my audience. If I had another face do you think I'd wear this one?
- I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.
- If this is Tea, then bring me some Coffee. If this is Coffee, then bring me some Tea.
- I am not concerned that you have fallen. I am concerned that you arise.
- Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
- [told that Ulysses S. Grant was drinking heavily] Can you send a barrel of whatever whiskey he drinks to all my other generals?
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