Lincoln, Abraham

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

"When I'm ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say, and two thirds of my time thinking about him and what he is going to say."

"The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."

"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."

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

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

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

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."

"You cannot escape the responsibility tomorrow by evading it today."

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

"Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves."

"He has the right to criticise who has the heart to help."

"I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend."

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

"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 Lord prefers common-looking people. That is the reason he makes so many of them." - attributed

"You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time." - attributed

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." - letter (1859)

"Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet." - letter (1863)

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." - speech (1854)

". . . government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." - speech (address at Gettysburg, 1863)