Abraham Lincoln is hailed as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents and one of the most influential figures in American history.
On 12 February 1809, Lincoln was born on a farm in Kentucky to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. He had little formal education growing up, but he read voraciously. At age 21, he left his family and moved to Illinois to work on a riverboat on the Mississippi River; he later joined the Illinois militia and was elected captain of his company at 23 years old.
In 1858 Lincoln published “A House Divided,” which outlined his theory that slavery would eventually end in all states due to its incompatibility with free labor and republican democracy
Here are 100 of the most inspirational Abraham Lincoln quotes to keep you motivated
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”
“If you would win a man to your cause first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”
“Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”
“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.”
“There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.”
“If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.”
“You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.”
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
“Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.”
“You can’t make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak.”
“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.”
“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”
“You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.”
“Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but leave him when he is wrong.”
“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.”
“Every man’s happiness is his own responsibility.”
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
“That some achieve great success is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
“You can tell the greatness of someone by what makes them angry”
“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
“Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.”
“Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”
“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
“Tact: the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
“And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.”
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”
“I will prepare and someday my chance will come.”
“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”
“No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.”
“If you think you can slander a woman into loving you, or a man into voting for you, try it till you are satisfied.”
“No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.”
“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.”
“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”
“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
“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 up to what light I have.”
“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
“The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.”
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
“I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life.”
“It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.”
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”
“I’m a slow walker, but I never walk back.”
“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
“I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”
“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.”
“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.”
“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be an evil somebody.”
“My mind is like a piece of steel, very hard to scratch anything on it and almost impossible after you get it there to rub it out.”
“Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.”
“Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.”
“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”
“All I have learned, I learned from books.”
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”
“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”
“Every person’s happiness is their own responsibility.”
“I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”
“Life is hard but so very beautiful”
“When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.”
“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.”
“I have a congenital aversion to failure.”
“Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.”
“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.”
“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
“I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.”
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.”
“You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
“The best way to predict your future is to create it”
“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody.”
“The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.”
“I hold that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.”
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
“A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.”
“If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again.”
“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
“Education does not mean teaching people wh
“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”
“It’s not me who can’t keep a secret. It’s the people I tell that can’t.” “I am not concerned that you have fallen — I am concerned that you arise.”
