100+ Abraham Lincoln Quotes & Biography

Name: Abraham Lincoln

Date of birth: February 12, 1809

Date of death: April 15, 1865 (aged 56)

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

Reading Abraham Lincoln’s quotes can have a deep impact on people – no matter where they live in the country, and no matter what their gender or age, these quotes will definitely put a profound impact on their life.

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

• “All I have learned, I learned from books.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already.” — 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

• “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

• “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea,please bring me some coffee.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.” — Abraham Lincoln

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

• “The lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he made a many of them.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “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.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “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.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “It’s not me who can’t keep a secret. It’s the people I tell that can’t.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “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.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “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.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “No man is poor who has a Godly mother.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.” — 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

• “To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” — Abraham Lincoln

• All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “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

• “No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The better part of one’s life consists of his friendship.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Love is the chain to lock a child to its parent.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.” — 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

• “Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.” — Abraham Lincoln

•  “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I cannot make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor colonization.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Tact: the ability to describe others as they see themselves.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?” — Abraham Lincoln

• “A farce or comedy is best played; a tragedy is best read at home.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “For people who like that kind of a book that is the kind of book they will like.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” — 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 do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I can make a General in five minutes but a good horse is hard to replace.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “If we have no friends, we have no pleasure; and if we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by the loss.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” — 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 distrust the wisdom if not the sincerity of friends who would hold my hands while my enemies stab me.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Every man’s happiness is his own responsibility.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Whatever you are, be a good one.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I would rather be a little nobody, then to be an evil somebody.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I am not concerned that you have fallen – I am concerned that you arise.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I have a congenital aversion to failure.” — Abraham Lincoln

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

• “The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I will prepare and someday my chance will come.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery. I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.” — Abraham Lincoln

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

• “What is to be, will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” — Abraham Lincoln

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

• “I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement, I have the best of the bargain.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of generosity.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.” — Abraham Lincoln

• “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

• Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. — Abraham Lincoln

• “You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” — Abraham Lincoln

if you find these quotes impressive and inspirational then don’t forget to read our collection of Alexander The Great Biography & Quotes and Albert Camus Quotes & Biography.

Early Life

People in the United States named Abraham Lincoln were born on February 12, 1809. They were living in Hardin County, Kentucky, at the time. When he was President of the United States, he was an American politician and a lawyer. He was killed in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its bloodiest war, which was also one of the most important moral, constitutional, and political crises in the country’s history. In this way, he kept the Union together, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernised the economy.

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most important people in the history of the United States because of both how important he was to the country and how unique he was. When he started out, he came from a poor family and worked hard to get to the top. Then he died suddenly and tragically at a time when his country needed him most to finish the great job that was still ahead of them. Abraham Lincoln quotes are also very popular among people and he has been ranked by both scholars and the public as one of the three best U.S. presidents for a long time. 

Childhood and Education

When Abraham was 9 years old, his mother died of tremetol (milk sickness) on October 5, 1818. She was 34 years old. Afterward, Abraham became more distant from his father and was quiet about how he didn’t like the work his father made him do at a young age.

Just over a year after Nancy died, in December 1819, Thomas married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow who had three children of her own from a marriage. Because she was strong and kind, Abraham quickly fell in love with her. His parents were probably not very smart, but Sarah told Abraham to read. This is even though both of them were probably not very smart. As a child, Lincoln didn’t like the hard work that came with living on the frontier. In the beginning, some of his neighbours thought he was lazy for “reading, writing, scribbling,” “ciphering” and “writing Poetry.”

They thought he must have done this to avoid physical work. His stepmom also said that he didn’t like “physical labour,” but that he loved to read a lot. Lincoln was mostly self-taught. His formal education came from a number of teachers who moved around. The total amount of time he spent with them may have been less than a year. However, he was an avid reader and always wanted to learn new things.

Law Career

Lincoln went back to work as a lawyer in Springfield. He handled “every kind of business that could come before a prairie lawyer.” For 16 years, he went to county seats in the middle of the state twice a year, for 10 weeks at a time, when the county courts were in town.

During the time when the country was expanding to the west, Lincoln took care of many transportation cases, especially the problems that arose when river barges were used under new railroad bridges. James A. Barret, an owner of the Alton & Sangamon Railroad, refused to pay the rest of the money he owed because the company had changed the route of its trains. In 1851, he helped the railroad fight back against Bacaree

Political career

In 1846, Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served a two-year term for the next two years. This is how it worked: He was the only Whig in the Illinois delegation. He showed that he was loyal to his party by voting and giving speeches that agreed with the party’s views.

On October 16, 1854, Lincoln made his “Peoria Speech,” in which he said that he did not support slavery. Lincoln was a big part of making the new Republican Party look the way it did. The speech painted a vivid picture of how the slavery debate could lead to a split in the United States. The first time Lincoln was endorsed for president was on February 27, 1860, when he got his first vote.

Lincoln’s supporters took advantage of a myth about his time on the frontier to call him “The Rail Candidate.” Lincoln said: “I’m about 6 feet, 4 inches tall, and I weigh about 170 pounds. I’m a little lean, too.” People voted for him with 55% of the popular vote. He was elected with the help of 212 of the 243 electoral votes that were cast. His rival, George B. McClellan, ran against him for the presidency, but it wasn’t very close.

Presidency 

During a vote on November 6, 1860, Lincoln was chosen to be president for the 16^th time. Lincoln only got a small share of the popular vote, but his victory in the electoral college was important. At Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union troops. They forced them to give up. Lincoln asked all the states to send detachments of 75,000 troops to take back forts. Virginia voted to leave the Union and was given the capital of the Confederacy as a reward. When the Civil War came to an end on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee gave up his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, who was in charge.

Personal life

Second child: Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, at the Sinking Spring Farm in Hardin County, Kentucky. He was born in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm (now LaRue County). Hodgenville, Kentucky is where Lincoln was born, and he grew up on the western frontier in Kentucky and Indiana, where he went to school. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, who moved from Norfolk, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638, and lived there for a while.

As a child, Captain Abraham Lincoln moved the family from Virginia to Kentucky in the 1780s. His grandfather was his father. Lincoln had a relationship with Mary Todd in 1839. She never came back to New Salem, Illinois, though. In 1842, the couple met up again at a party, and they got married soon after that. Lincoln was very fond of children, and the Lincolns were not known for being strict with their own.

Death

At least some parts of the country under the control of the Union started rebuilding in 1863, when the war was still going on. Abraham Lincoln wanted to get people back together quickly with little punishment. But he was confronted by a group of radical Republicans in the Senate and House who wanted former Confederates to give up their old ways and give up their allegiance.

On April 14, 1865, a well-known actor and supporter of the Confederacy, John Wilkes Booth, killed Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Before a political fight could get going, Booth killed Lincoln. To get to the Petersen House across the street, Lincoln was taken from the theatre. He stayed there for nine hours before dying the next morning. This is how it worked: It took a funeral train to take him back to Springfield, Illinois, where he will be buried. His body lay in state at the Capitol.

Awards and memorials

Lincoln’s picture is on two types of United States currency: the penny and the $5 bill. As well, his picture is on many postage stamps, and he has been named after him in a lot of towns and cities, including the state capital of Nebraska!

Abraham Lincoln’s sculpture is on Mount Rushmore. Lincoln Memorial, Ford’s Theatre, and Petersen House (where he died) are in Washington, D.C. Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is in Springfield, Illinois, near Lincoln’s home and his grave, as well as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. Besides that, there was also the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln exhibit at Disneyland and the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World, which had to do with the fact that Walt Disney had always liked Lincoln since he was a little boy.