Abraham Lincoln

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.

I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. It is possible for each of you to attain to that.

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.

I think I am a pretty good judge of men, and I have found that all men are more or less corrupt, and that the only honest men are those who have not been tempted.

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.

I am not ashamed to confess that I am not a Know-Nothing or that I am a Know-Something.

The great mass of mankind are neither one thing nor the other. They are not very good, and they are not very bad.

It is not merely for to-day, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children's children this great and free government, which we have inherited from our fathers.

I shall try to do my duty, and I shall try to do it conscientiously.

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 existence in great emergencies.

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. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty.

Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

Public opinion, though often an erring, is generally an irresistible power.

I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know I am right because I know I have no doubts.

I have been as good a Whig as there was in the country. I have been a Whig ever since I was a boy, but I am no longer a Whig.

The plainest print cannot be read through a gold eagle.

I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel.

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.

I have great respect for the Christian religion. I have been a regular attendant at church for many years, and I believe in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.