Abraham Lincoln was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. An astute politician, Lincoln led the nation through the Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. He preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the U.S. economy. Lincoln is remembered as America’s martyr hero. He is consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U.S. presidents.
Some of the best quotes from Abraham Lincoln are listed below.
- “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Everybody likes a compliment.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “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.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “I can make more generals, but horses cost money.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “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.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “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.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “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.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “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.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “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.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln
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