Abraham Lincoln

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go.

Public opinion in this country is everything.

I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or I am removed for cause, or for no cause.

The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he made so many of them.

Upon the subject of education... I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?

It is my pleasure that the work be well done, rather than the credit.

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition.

The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession.

He has a right to criticize, even though he busies himself amending his neighbors' gardens before his own is tidied.

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

I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist.

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.

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.

Public opinion, though often an incorrect reformer, is generally a most efficient one.

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one.