You have heard the story, haven’t you, about the man who was tarred and feathered and carried out of town on a rail? A man in the crowd asked him how he liked it. His reply was that if it was not for the honor of the thing, he would much rather walk.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed (1861))
When asked how he liked being president (c. 1861). Quoted in Emanuel Hertz, Lincoln Talks: A Biography in Anecdote (1939).
Quotations by:
Lincoln, Abraham
No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
When I am getting ready to persuade a man, I spend one third of the time thinking about myself what I’m going to say and two thirds of the time thinking about him and what he is going to say.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
I do the very best I know how — the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
In Francis Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, ch. 68 (1866)
You cannot escape the responsibility tomorrow by evading it today.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
I don’t know who my grandfather was; I’m much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Quoted in F B Carpenter, The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln (1867); Lincoln repeated this as told to him by a fellow-passenger in a stagecoach.
People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
One of the earliest references to something like this was in an 1863 newspaper ad for Lincoln’s favorite humorist, Artemus Ward, that included this faux testimonial (possibly written by Ward): “I have never heard any of your lectures, but from what I can learn I should say that for people who like the kind of lectures you deliver, they are just the kind of lectures such people like. Yours respectfully, O. Abe.”
Quoted in G.W.E. Russell, Collections and Recollections, ch. 30 (1898), regarding “an unreadably sentimental book.”
According to Anthony Gross, Lincoln’s Own Stories (1902), Lincoln’s was speaking to Robert Dale Owen, who had insisted on reading to Lincoln a long manuscript on spiritualism. "Well, for those who like that sort of thing, I should think it is just about the sort of thing they would like."
In Emanual Hertz, ed., "Father Abraham," Lincoln Talks: A Biography in Anecdote (1939), the response was to a young poet asking him about his newly published poems.
More discussion of this quotation: Ralph Keyes, The Quote Verifier.
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Quoted in Frederick Trevor Hill, Lincoln the Lawyer, ch. 19 (1906). Hill adds, "History has considerately sheltered the identity of the victim."
I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day, as each day came.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Recalled by Lincoln from an Indiana church meeting talk by "an old man named Glenn" in the 1810s.
If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Gentlemen, why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
I care not for a man’s religion whose dog or cat are not the better for it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Frequently attributed to Lincoln without citation, it's actually a variant of "I would give nothing for that man's religion, whose very dog and cat are not the better for it," by Rowland Hill (1744-1833), an English preacher, attributed in George Seaton Bowes, Illustrative Gatherings, or, Preachers and Teachers (1860). Lincoln may have used the line.
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
All through life be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Quoted in William M Thayer, The Pioneer Boy (1882).
I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
No early authority has been found citing this from Lincoln. However, in The Sociable Story-teller (1846), Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor 1410-1437, was quoted : "Do I not most effectually destroy my enemies, in making them my friends?"
You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
A possible precursor to this quote is the widely-republished Jacques Abbadie, "Treatise on the Truth of the Christian Religion [Traité de la Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne]," ch. 2 (1684):… ont pû tromper quelques hommes, ou les tromper tous dans certains lieux & en certains tems, mais non pas tous les hommes, dans tous les lieux & dans tous les siécles.
[One can fool some men, or fool all men in some places and times, but one cannot fool all men in all places and ages.]
A similar passage was used in Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, ed., Encyclopédie: ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, Vol. 4 (1754).
An early English version came from a speech by William J. Groo to a convention of Prohibitionists; the newspaper recording of it does not include any attribution by Groo to anyone else:You can fool all the people part of the time, or you can fool some people all the time, but you cannot fool all people all the time.
First attributed to Lincoln by Fred F. Wheeler, interviewed in the Albany Times (1886-03-08): "You can fool part of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time."
First cited in detail in Alexander K. McClure, “Abe” Lincoln’s Yarns and Stories, (1904), in the above form; it was cited as a Lincoln speech in Clinton, Ill. (1858-09-02), but the passage is not found in any surviving Lincoln documents. No Lincoln reference is found in contemporary writings.
Also attributed to P.T. Barnum and Bob Dylan. See also Lawrence J. Peter.
More detailed discussion of the quotation and its origins can be found here:
The Lord prefers common-looking people. That’s why he makes so many of them.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)Quoted in J. Morgan, Our President, ch. 6.
Honest statesmanship is the wise employment of individual meannesses for the public good.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
(Source)
Attributed in John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, vol. 10, ch. 18 "Lincoln's Fame" (1886).
You must remember that some things that are legally right are not morally right.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
Remark to potential client (1840s?), refusing his case involving a $600 claim against a widow with six children. In F. Brown, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln, 2.6 (1887).
The sharpness of a refusal or the edge of a rebuke may be blunted by an appropriate story so as to save wounded feelings and yet serve the purpose.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
In Anthony Gross, ed. Lincoln's Own Stories, ch. 6 (1912).
Perhaps a man’s character is like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
In Noah Brooks "Lincoln's Imagination," _Scribner's Monthly (Aug 1879).
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
(Source)
Recounted in the Pennsylvania School Journal, Vol. 46, #7 (Jan 1898) as an anecdote from a clergyman printed in the New York Tribune.
The man who will not investigate both sides of a question is dishonest.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)
I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right; but, it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I, and this nation, should be on the Lord’s side.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed) (1862)Reply to a clergyman who said he hoped the Lord was on our side. In Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln, p. 282 (1867). In some places cited as 1864.
Oh, if there is a man out of hell that suffers more than I do, I pity him.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed) (1862)
In Emmanuel Hertz, ed., Lincoln Talks: A Biography in Anecdote, "Father Abraham" (1939); a remark following the Army of the Potomac's defeat at Fredericksburg.
Most of us are just about as happy as we make up our minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Spurious)
Not found any earlier than in casual attribution in 1914. Also sometimes attributed to Mark Twain.
For more discussion of the source of this quotation, see: Quote Origin: Folks Are Usually About as Happy as They Make Up Their Minds To Be – Quote Investigator®.
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Spurious)
Frequently quoted, but does not appear in the record of Lincoln's writings or in any first person account.
There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war — except its ending.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Spurious)
Sometimes actually attributed to Lincoln, it is actually a line written for a simulation of Lincoln by Arthur Heinemann for the TV episode Star Trek, 3x22 "Savage Curtain" (1969).
We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war, which has cost a vast treasure of blood and money, is almost over. But I see in the future a crisis approaching which fills me with anxiety. As a result of the war, corporations have become enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its rule by preying upon the prejudice of the people, until all wealth is concentrated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed. I feel at this time more anxiety for the future of my country than at any time in the past, even in the midst of war.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Spurious)
Variants:I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country [...] corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the rebellion.The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace, and it conspires against it in times of adversity. It’s more despotic than monarchy. It’s more insolent than autocracy. It’s more selfish than bureaucracy. [...] Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the republic is destroyed.
This is most often cited as being from a letter (1864-11-21) to Colonel William F. Elkins, a personal friend of Lincoln's. Other attributions included a message from Lincoln to Congress, or from other speeches, or in one case to a message from Lincoln from beyond the grave during a seance. It may be traceable to a pamphlet by the Caldwell Remedy Company (1888-05-10). It came to wide prominence during the 1896 presidential election, when the powers of corporations, trusts, and robber barons were under wide populist attack.
The quotation was researched and rejected by Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln's personal secretaries, as well as by his son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Further, Lincoln worked as a corporate lawyer on a number of occasions, and never seemed particularly concerned about corporations or their concentration of wealth. Nevertheless, the spurious quotation and variants regularly pop up in essays, speeches, and opinion pieces even today.
For more information about this quotation and its background (including much of the information above), see:
- Thomas F Schwartz, "Lincoln Never Said That," For the People (newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association), Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1999).
- Did Abraham Lincoln Warn of the Tyranny of Capitalism? | Snopes.com.
- Essay (1939-11-06), "Sources of Traditional Quotations," Lincoln Lore," No. 552 (Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation).
- Getting Wrong with Lincoln | Origins.
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Comment (1864, Summer)
(Source)
Recalled by his long-time friend, Joseph Gillespie, regarding pardons for some army deserters, in O. Oldroyd, The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles (1882).
Often attributed to a speech in Washington (1865), but I can find nothing in his collected works or in Presidential paper collections.
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Essay (1832-03-09), “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” Sangamo Journal (1832-03-15)
(Source)
Newspaper copy of a handbill distributed as part of Lincoln's candidacy for the Illinois State Legislature.
Upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I thought. 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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Essay (1832-03-09), “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” Sangamo Journal (1832-03-15)
(Source)
Newspaper copy of a handbill distributed as part of Lincoln's candidacy for the Illinois State Legislature.
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. That every man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. For my part, I desire to see the time when education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry, shall become much more general than at present, and should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy period.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Essay (1832-03-09), “Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” Sangamo Journal (1832-03-15)
(Source)
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Essay (1862-09-02?), “Meditation on the Divine Will” (frag.)
(Source)
This fragment was found and preserved by John Hay, one of Lincoln's personal secretaries. Hay, and John Nicolay (another of his secretaries) indicated it was a private note, never meant for publication, labeled it as possibly dated 30 September, though their account implies it was during his consideration of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of 22 September. The editors of the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln push the date as early as 2 September, following Second Bull Run. More detailed analysis of the date here.
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Fragment (1858-08-01?), “Definition of Democracy”
(Source)
The title of this writing fragment, in Lincoln's hand, is notional. It is sometimes referred to as "On Slavery and Democracy." The date is also conjectural, and the manuscript is not connected with any known speech or occasion. The scrap of paper this solitary paragraph is on was given to Mary Todd Lincoln by her friend, Myra Bradwell on Mary's release from the asylum. It was unsigned, but a signature clipped from another document was pasted below the text.
Slavery is doomed, and that within a few years. Even Judge Douglas admits it to be an evil, and an evil can’t stand discussion. In discussing it we have taught a great many thousands of people to hate it who had never given it a thought before. What kills the skunk is the publicity it gives itself. What a skunk wants to do is to keep snug under the barn in daytime, when men are around with shotguns.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Interview (1859-09-17?) with David R. Locke, Columbus, Ohio
(Source)
After his speech in Columbus (1859-09-16), discussing the effect of drawing attention to the problem of slavery through his speech-making. Recounted by Locke in A. T. Rice (ed.), Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time, ch. 25 (1883).
I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with any one who would be block-head enough to have me.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1838-04-01) to Mrs. Orville H. Browning
(Source)
Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you shall 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. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect. If to-day 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.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1848-02-15) to William H. Herndon
(Source)
The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1848-02-15) to William H. Herndon
(Source)
Lincoln understood Herndon to be proposing that the President, on their own initiative and judgment, was entitled to preemptively invade another country to repel an anticipated invasion. Herndon felt this principle justified Polk's sending of troops into disputed territory, which led to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), though Polk didn't justify his actions in that way.
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 shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1854-08-24) to Joshua Speed
(Source)
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1855-11-05) to Isham Reavis
(Source)
This is a world of compensation; 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, cannot long retain it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1859-04-06) to Henry L. Pierce, et al.
(Source)
The letter is quoted in Charles Sumner's Eulogy to Lincoln, printed in the City of Boston''s A Memorial of Abraham Lincoln, Late President of the United States (1865).
The letter was in response to an invitation from Boston for the celebration of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. Lincoln praised Jefferson, and warned against those who would "overthrow" the principles of freedom Jefferson wrote of so eloquently. Lincoln apparently saw no irony in this passage, even given Jefferson being a slave-holder.
No law is stronger than is the public sentiment where it is to be enforced.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1859-12-22) to John J. Crittenden
(Source)
Crittenden was a US Senator from Kentucky, a former Whig but at the time part of the American (Know-Nothing) Party. Lincoln was criticizing the idea of a party platform with the sole position of "The Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of the laws," and used the resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act in the North as an example.
See Lincoln (1858).
I must save this government if possible. What I cannot do, of course I will not do; but it may as well be understood, once for all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1862-07-26) to Revardy Johnson
(Source)
I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1863-01-26) to Gen. Joseph Hooker
(Source)
If both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1863-05-27) to Gen. John M. Schofield
(Source)
On assigning him to the command of the Department of the Missouri, having removed the previous commander there because of his involvement on one side of local, factional politics.
Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1863-08-26) to James C. Conkling
(Source)
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. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1863-08-26) to James C. Conkling
(Source)
Sent as a letter to Conkling to read to a rally of Union supporters in Springfield, Illionis (1863-09-03).
Lincoln used the juxtaposition of ballots and bullets a number of times (e.g., 1856, 1858).
The advice of a father to his son “Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear it that the opposed may beware of thee,” is good, and yet not the best. 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. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.
My note to you I certainly did not expect to see in print; yet I have not been much shocked by the newspaper comments on it. Those comments constitute a fair specimen of what has occurred to me through life. I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1863-11-02) to James H. Hackett
(Source)
Lincoln's first letter (1863-08-17) to Hackett, a famous comedic stage actor, in which he talked about Shakespeare's plays, was published in the New York Herald, and drew criticism and mockery from Lincoln's detractors.
I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1864-04-04) to Albert G. Hodges
(Source)
On how neither the war nor the slavery issue had played out how as he anticipated or aimed for.
I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1864-04-04) to Albert G. Hodges
(Source)
Recounting what he had said the previous day at the White House to newspaper publisher Hodges, Governor Thomas Bramlette, and US Senator Archibald Dixon, all of Kentucky.
Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Letter (1864-07-14) to Edwin M. Stanton
(Source)
Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1861-07-04) to Congress, Special Message, Washington, D. C.
(Source)
Lincoln's Special Message to Congress was to discuss the Civil War that had broken out, its origins, and how it represented this fundamental question about representative government.
Lincoln repeated this phrasing at the beginning of his speech (1864-11-10) responding to serenaders celebrating his re-election.Franklin Roosevelt quoted Lincoln during a pre-WW2 Jackson Day radio address (1941-03-29).
It is as much the duty of government to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of citizens, as it is to administer the same between private individuals.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1861-12-03) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union)
(Source)
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. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1861-12-03) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union)
(Source)
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1862-12-01) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union)
(Source)
In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Message (1862-12-01) to Congress, Annual Message (State of the Union)
(Source)
If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B. — why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A?
You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.
You do not mean color exactly? — You mean the whites are intellectually the superior of blacks, and, therefore, have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.
But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Note (1854-07-01?), On Slavery (fragment)
(Source)
The note itself is not dated. The fragment is included in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 2 (1953) [ed. Roy P. Basler]. The printed version of the book gives "July 1, 1854?" as the date, as being the date assigned by Nicolay and Hay; the U. of Michigan online version of that work gives "April 1, 1854?" with no explaination. The editors of the Collected Works do note that it likely was written 1858-1859. The Abraham Lincoln Digital Library version suggests the note post-dates the Kansas-Nebraska Act (May 1854), which brought Lincoln back into politics, campaigning for a Whig congressional candidate in the Fall of 1854.
It was a time when a man with a policy would have been fatal to the country. I have never had a policy. I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day, as each day came.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remark (1865-02) to John M. Palmer
(Source)
About Lincoln's election in 18960. Attributed in Alexander McClure, ed., "Abe" Lincoln's Yarns and Stories (1901). Palmer was a US Senator and Governor from Illinois, who first met Lincoln in 1839 (while acting as Major-General of the state's Volunteer Army) and recounted this comment from his final visit to Lincoln White House that month.
Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remark to Joshua Speed (Feb. 1865)
In Melancthon Woolsey Stryker's Hamilton, Lincoln & Other Addresses (1896). Also in John Y. Simon, Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (1975), pp. 141-142.
How hard, oh, how hard it is to die and leave one’s country no better than if one had never lived for it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remark to William H. Herndon, quoted in letter from Herndon to Ward H. Herdon (6 Mar 1866)
In Emanuel Hertz (ed.), The Hidden Lincoln: From the Letters and Papers of William H. Herndon, 1.2 (1940)
Often an idea would occur to me which seemed to have force. … I never let one of those ideas escape me, but wrote it on a scrap of paper and put it in that drawer. In that way I saved my best thoughts on the subject, and, you know, such things often come in a kind of intuitive way more clearly than if one were to sit down and deliberately reason them out. To save the results of such mental action is true intellectual economy.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Remarks to James F. Wilson (Jun 1862)
In G. Iles, ed., Autobiography, Greatest Americans (1924)
There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1838-01-27), “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
Is it unreasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us? And when such an one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.
Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down.Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1838-01-27), “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1838-01-27), Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
Lincoln goes on to describe growing issues of lawlessness and mob justice.
This seems to be the source of this far more prosaic, and spurious, Lincoln quote:America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
I know the American People are much attached to their Government; — I know they would suffer much for its sake; — I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1838-01-27), Young Men’s Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1839-12-26), “The Sub-Treasury,” Illinois House of Representatives, Springfield
(Source)
On defeating Martin Van Buren, the incumbent Democratic President, in the next election. Van Buren was in fact defeated in 1840 by Whig candidate William Henry Harrison.
We know nothing of what will happen in future, but by the analogy of experience.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1839-12-26), “The Sub-Treasury,” Illinois House of Representatives, Springfield
(Source)
When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, that a “drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.” So with men. 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 he 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, if indeed that cause really be a just one.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1843-02-22), Temperance Address, Washington Temperance Society, Second Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
Reported in the Sangamo Journal (1843-03-25).
The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject any thing, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good. There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost every thing, especially of governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1848-06-20), “Internal Improvements,” US House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
(Source)
Speaking on internal improvements (infrastructure) as part of governmental policy. Taken from the copy of the speech Lincoln submitted to the Congressional Globe Appendix and the Illinois Journal (1848-07-20).
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1850), Notes for a Law Lecture (fragment)
(Source)
No lecture of the sort given by Lincoln has been recorded. The date was assigned by Niclay and Hay, with nothing concrete to contradict it. The lecture notes might well have been written several years later.
As a general rule never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client. And when you lack interest in the case the job will very likely lack skill and diligence in the performance.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1850), Notes for a Law Lecture (fragment)
(Source)
No lecture of the sort given by Lincoln has been recorded. The date was assigned by Nicolay and Hay, with nothing concrete to contradict it. The lecture notes might well have been written several years later.
There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. 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. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1850), Notes for a Law Lecture (fragment)
(Source)
No lecture of the sort given by Lincoln has been recorded. The date was assigned by Nicolay and Hay, with nothing concrete to contradict it. The lecture notes might well have been written several years later.
Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-04-01), “Fragment on Slavery”
(Source)
This speech fragment was given this date by Nicolay and Hay, though alternatives have been suggested.
If all men were just, there would still be some, though not so much, need of government.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-07-01?), fragment on government
(Source)
The date was assigned (arbitrarily?) to the fragment by Nicolay and Hay. The speech or lecture it was written for is not recorded.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves — in their separate, and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere.
The desirable things which the individuals of a people can not do, or can not well do, for themselves, fall into two classes: those which have relation to wrongs, and those which have not. Each of these branch off into an infinite variety of subdivisions. The first — that in relation to wrongs — embraces all crimes, misdemeanors, and non-performance of contracts. The other embraces all which, in its nature, and without wrong, requires combined action, as public roads and highways, public schools, charities, pauperism, orphanage, estates of the deceased, and the machinery of government itself.
From this it appears that if all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government.Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-07-01?), fragment on government
(Source)
The date was assigned (arbitrarily?) to the fragment by Nicolay and Hay. The speech or lecture it was written for is not recorded.
What I do say is that 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. […] According to our ancient faith, the just powers of governments are derived from the consent of the governed. Now the relation of master and slave is pro tanto a total violation of this principle. The master not only governs the slave without his consent, but he governs him by a set of rules altogether different from those which he prescribes for himself. Allow all the governed an equal voice in the government, and that, and that only, is self-government.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)
Speaking on the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed as "self-government" for residents of those two territories to decide locally whether to allow slavery there.
In the ellipses, Lincoln quotes the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, through "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Near eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a “sacred right of self-government.” These principles can not stand together. They are as opposite as God and mammon; and whoever holds to the one, must despise the other.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)
Speaking on the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed as "self-government" for residents of those two territories to decide locally whether to allow slavery there.
Lincoln is referencing both the Declaration of Independence and the Bible (Luke 16:13).
This declared indifference, but as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our Republican example of its just influence in the world — enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites — causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty — criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1854-10-16), “In Reply to Senator Douglas,” Peoria, Illinois
(Source)
Speaking on the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed for residents of those two territories to decide locally whether to allow slavery there.
I will not say that we may not sooner or later be compelled to meet force by force; but the time has not yet come, and, if we are true to ourselves, may never come. Do not mistake that the ballot is stronger than the bullet. Therefore let the legions of slavery use bullets; but let us wait patiently till November and fire ballots at them in return; and by that peaceful policy I believe we shall ultimately win.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1856-05-29), Republican State Convention of Illinois, Bloomington [ed. Whitney]
(Source)
The speech is based on contemporaneous notes by William C. Whitney, who was present at the speech. The speech was reconstructed from the notes in 1896; Whitney said that it was not literal, but followed Lincoln's arguments and used many of his sentences.
Usually given in a shorter form: "The ballot is stronger than the bullet."
Lincoln used the juxtaposition of ballots and bullets a number of times (e.g., 1858, 1863). This is the earliest of the instances I can find.
I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal — equal in “certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, or yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all, constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere.
To give the victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man’s rights.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-07-10), Chicago, Illinois
(Source)
I should like to know if, taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it, where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute book, in which we find it, and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it? If it is not true let us tear it out!
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-07-10), Chicago, Illinois
(Source)
I adhere to the Declaration of Independence. If Judge Douglas and his friends are not willing to stand by it, let them come up and amend it. Let them make it read that all men are created equal except negroes. Let us have it decided whether the Declaration of Independence, in this blessed year of 1858, shall be thus amended. In his construction of the Declaration last year, he said it only meant that Americans in America were equal to Englishmen in England. Then, when I pointed out to him that by that rule he excludes the Germans, the Irish, the Portuguese, and all the other people who have come among us since the revolution, he reconstructs his construction. In his last speech he tells us it meant Europeans.
I press him a little further, and ask if it meant to include the Russians in Asia; or does he mean to exclude that vast population from the principles of our Declaration of Independence? I expect ere long he will introduce another amendment to his definition. He is not at all particular. He is satisfied with anything which does not endanger the nationalizing of negro slavery. It may draw white men down, but it must not lift negroes up.Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-07-17), Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
My declarations upon this subject of negro slavery may be misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. I have said that I do not understand the Declaration to mean that all men were created equal in all respects. They are not our equal in color; but I suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal in their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Certainly the negro is not our equal in color, perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man, white or black. In pointing out that more has been given you, you cannot be justified in taking away the little which has been given him. 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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-07-17), Springfield, Illinois
(Source)
In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.
What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army. These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. 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, every where. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-09-11), Edwardsville, Illinois
(Source)
As reported in the Alton Weekly Courier (1858-09-16).
Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-09-11), Edwardsville, Illinois
(Source)
As reported in the Alton Weekly Courier (1858-09-16).
I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything. I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-09-18), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 4, Charleston, Illinois
(Source)
Answering accusations from Douglas and his supporters about Lincolns attitude toward Blacks and the threat of "amalgamation." A clear indicator that at this point in his life, despite abhorring the institution of chattel slavery and the enslavement of Blacks in the South (for humanitarian, social, and economic reasons), Lincoln still held racist (if somewhat less malevolent) views of Blacks and the the possibility of racial harmony and integration.
It really hurts me very much to suppose that I have wronged anybody on earth.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-10-13), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 6, Quincy, Illinois
(Source)
It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, “You work and toil and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.” No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1858-10-15), Lincoln-Douglas Debate No. 7, Alton, Illinois
(Source)
The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both Congresses, and courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1859-09-16), Columbus, Ohio
(Source)
On preventing the spread of slavery to new states and territories, and preventing the resumption of the African slave trade.
The speech, sponsored by the Ohio Republican Central Committee, was also given the next day in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio. It may have been also given at Cooper Union, New York City (1860-02-27).
Variant:The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
Discussion and further information around this quotation:
- Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833-1916: Abraham Lincoln, [September 16-17, 1859] (Notes for Speech in Kansas and Ohio) | Library of Congress
- "The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, not to over-throw the Constitution, but to over-throw the men who pervert that Constitution" / E.B. & E.C. Kellogg, 245 Main Street, Hartford, Conn. | Library of Congress
- Did Lincoln Say 'We the People Are the Rightful Masters of Both Congress and the Courts'? | Snopes.com
It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: “And this, too, shall pass away.” How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! — how consoling in the depth of affliction!
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1859-09-30), Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee
(Source)
The anecdote Lincoln tells comes from a 12th Century Persian tale, which became popular in English in the early 19th Century, particularly through English poet Edward FitzGerald in 1852.
To correct the evils, great and small, which spring from want of sympathy, and from positive enmity, among strangers, as nations, or as individuals, is one of the highest functions of civilization.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1859-09-30), Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee
(Source)
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1860-02-27), Cooper Institute, New York
(Source)
It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the motherland; but something in the Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1861-02-22), Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(Source)
Text as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer (1861-02-23).
The New York Tribune account gave for the second clause, "but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty."
A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.
(Source)
By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. 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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.
(Source)
In ‘your’ hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in ‘mine’, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail ‘you’. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. ‘You’ have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.
(Source)
Lincoln spent most of his first Inaugural addressing the Southern states, trying to forestall their secession. This was the penultimate paragraph (before the "better angels of our nature" one) in the speech as given.
In Lincoln's "First Edition" of the address, a somewhat harsher version of this paragraph was the actual ending of the speech:In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you, unless you first assail it. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend” it. You can forbear the assault upon it; I can not shrink from the defense of it. With you, and not with me, is the solemn question of “Shall it be peace, or a sword?"
Lincoln offered William Seward, one of his political rivals, an opportunity to review and suggest changes to the draft. Seward offered a number of edits, including in this portion scratching out the last two sentences Lincoln had written, as well as the "first assail" clause.
Seward also added an additional paragraph after this, rather than leaving it as the ending.
I am loathe to close. 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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C. (final paragraph)
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William Seward, though a political rival of Lincoln's, was invited by him to review the draft address. Seward suggested, as an added ending paragraph, the following, which was then adapted by Lincoln into the above:I close. We are not, we must not be aliens or enemies but fellow-countrymen. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many battle-fields, and so many patriot graves, pass through all the hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of the nation.
I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1862-08-06), Union (War) Meeting, US Capitol steps, Washington, D. C.
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I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in the belief, and perhaps in some respects both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me; for, unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it! These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible and learn what appears to be wise and right. The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1862-09-13) to the Emancipation Memorial presented by Chicago Christians of All Denominations.
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From a report of the delegation that presented Lincoln with a memorial in favor of national emancipation. The report, detailing Lincoln's comments and their replies, was presented to the sending parties on 1862-09-20, and released to newspapers over the following days.
I desire to 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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1863-09-30) to the Missouri Committee of Seventy
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A committee of seventy "Radical Union Men of Missouri," selected by a state convention, visited Lincoln in the White House, demanding immediate abolition of slavery in the border states, the recruitment of Black soldiers to the Union Army, and that action be taken regarding the factional conflicts (Radicals vs Conservatives) stirred up by the state governor and the US military governor overseeing the state militia. This was Lincoln's concluding remark in reply to the committee's petition.
This was not a prepared speech, so there is no "official" version. These words were later reported by Enos Clarke, one of the committee members, as recorded in Ida Tarbell's The Life of Abraham Lincoln (1895). Tarbell's book was a best-seller, and the quotation is usually given as above.
However, Clarke's report as recorded by Walter Stevens in the Missouri State Historical Society book Lincoln and Missouri (1916) is a bit different:It is my ambition and desire to so administer the affairs of the government while I remain President that if at the end I shall have lost every other friend on earth I shall at least have one friend remaining and that one shall be down inside of me.
The difference between the two may be between different instances across the years of Clarke reporting on Lincoln's comments. Neither Tarbell nor Stevens give notes as to when and where their statements from Clarke derive.
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, for the people, shall not vanish from this earth.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1863-11-19), “Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg [Gettysburg Address],” Pennsylvania
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Closing words of the speech.
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. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1863-11-19), “Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg [Gettysburg Address],” Pennsylvania
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We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1863-11-19), “Dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg [Gettysburg Address],” Pennsylvania
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That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprize. 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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1864-03-21) to the New York Workingmen’s Democratic Republican Association, Washington, DC
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The strife of the election is but human-nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case, must ever recur in similar cases. 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 good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1864-11-10), “Response to a Serenade,” Washington, D. C.
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Discussing the stresses and strains of holding federal elections, including for the Presidency, during the Civil War. Speech given from a White House window to a group of Pennsylvanians celebrating his re-election.
It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its own existence, in great emergencies. […]
We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1864-11-10), “Response to a Serenade,” Washington, D. C.
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Speech given from a White House window to a group of Pennsylvanians celebrating his re-election.
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.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1865-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.
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Concluding words.
Both a final handwritten copy and a galley proof of the speech (cut up by Lincoln for delivery at the podium) include one of the few recorded changes in the speech: the last words "with the world" altered to "with all nations."
I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever [I] hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1865-03-17) to the 104th Indiana Regiment, Indianapolis
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Lincoln was speaking on reports that Confederate Army was drafting Black slaves to fight in their ranks. The above is the text from Lincolns autograph draft, and is most well known. The draft includes the words (scratched out) "any one arguing for slavery, even a preacher, I feel ...."
See also Lincoln (1854).
The following version was from newspaper reports the next day in the New York Herald and New York Tribune:While I have often said that all men ought to be free, yet I would allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to be; and next to them those white persons who argue in favor of making other people slaves. (Applause.) I am in favor of giving an opportunity to such white men to try it on for themselves.
The "arguing for slavery" quote was mentioned in a speech by Jimmy Carter before the Indian Parliament (1978-01-02), in the context of those wealthy people who say that democracy is of no value to the poor.
Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1865-04-11), Washington, D.C.
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Discussing how plans for the Reconstruction needed to be flexible, but the principles behind it not. Lincoln's last public address before his assassination on 14 April.
Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand will him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Peoria, Illinois (16 Oct 1854)