As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
- Abraham Lincoln

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
- Abraham Lincoln

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
- Abraham Lincoln

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.
- Abraham Lincoln

Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and force a new one that suits them better.
- Abraham Lincoln

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak out and remove all doubt.
- Abraham Lincoln

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
- Abraham Lincoln

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
- Abraham Lincoln

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.
- Abraham Lincoln

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
- Abraham Lincoln

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.
- Abraham Lincoln

Folks who have no vices have plaguey few virtues.
- Abraham Lincoln

Friends, I agree with you in Providence; but I believe in the Providence of the most men, the largest purse, and the longest cannon.
- Abraham Lincoln

He who molds the public sentiment … makes statues and decisions possible or impossible to make.
- Abraham Lincoln

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.
- Abraham Lincoln

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
- Abraham Lincoln

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
- Abraham Lincoln

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
- Abraham Lincoln

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.
- Abraham Lincoln

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
- Abraham Lincoln