The Lincoln Year Book: Axioms and Aphorisms from the Great Emancipator

JULY

Our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

FIRST

This country, with all its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it.

SECOND

What is the use of putting up the gap when the fence is down all around?

THIRD

We hold the power – and bear the responsibility.

FOURTH

My countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our charter of liberty, let me entreat you to come back.

FIFTH

The Fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day for firecrackers.

SIXTH

I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.

SEVENTH

I have more pegs than holes to put them in.

EIGHTH

The government must not undertake to run the churches.

NINTH

All seems well with us.

TENTH

With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.

ELEVENTH

It is no child's play to save the principles of Jefferson from total overthrow in this nation.

TWELFTH

If the Ship of State should suffer wreck now, it will never need another pilot.

THIRTEENTH

Let us see what we can do.

FOURTEENTH

I will try to go to God with my sorrows.

FIFTEENTH

The wriggle to live, without toil, work, or labor, which I am not free from myself.

SIXTEENTH

Persisting in a charge one does not know to be true is malicious slander.

SEVENTEENTH

Steer from point to point – no farther than you can see.

EIGHTEENTH

God bless the women of America!

NINETEENTH

The churches, as such, must take care of themselves.

TWENTIETH

There is no more dangerous or expensive analysis than that which consists of trying a man.

TWENTY-FIRST

Answer with facts, not with arguments.

TWENTY-SECOND

The nation is beginning a new life.

TWENTY-THIRD

Better give your path to a dog than to be bitten by him in contesting for the right.

TWENTY-FOURTH

Money being the object, the man having money would be the victim.

TWENTY-FIFTH

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.

TWENTY-SIXTH

Early impressions last longer.

TWENTY-SEVENTH

Stand with anybody who stands right, … and part with him when he goes wrong.

TWENTY-EIGHTH

My advice is to keep cool.

TWENTY-NINTH

If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.

THIRTIETH

I have done just as much as, and no more than, the public knows.

THIRTY-FIRST

Many free countries have lost their liberties and ours may lose hers; but, if she shall, be it my proudest boast, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her.

AUGUST

I feel that I can not succeed without the Divine blessing, and on the Almighty Being I place my reliance for support.

FIRST

It is not "Can any of us imagine better?" but "Can we all do better?"

SECOND

Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.

THIRD

Wanting to work is so rare a merit that it should be encouraged.

FOURTH

We shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.

FIFTH

Maintain the honor and integrity of the nation.

SIXTH

I look to the American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them.

SEVENTH

Secure peace through victory.

EIGHTH

What is the influence of fashion but the influence that other people's actions have on our actions?

NINTH

Our government rests in public opinion.

TENTH

Posterity has done nothing for us, and, theorize on it as we may, practically we shall do very little for it unless we are made to think we are, at the same time, doing something for ourselves.

ELEVENTH

I am glad to find a man who can go ahead without me.

TWELFTH

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him you are his sincere friend.

THIRTEENTH

Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold.

FOURTEENTH

These are not the days of miracles, and I suppose I am not to expect a direct revelation.

FIFTEENTH

Do not mix politics with your profession.

SIXTEENTH

The first reformer in any movement has to meet with such a hard opposition, and gets so battered and bespattered, that afterward, when people find they have to accept his reform, they will accept it more easily from another man.

SEVENTEENTH

Versatility is an injurious possession, since it can never be greatness.

EIGHTEENTH

A jury has too frequently at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor.

NINETEENTH

It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subjected to the hard usages of the world.

TWENTIETH

With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor.

TWENTY-FIRST

Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind.

TWENTY-SECOND

We are going through with our task.

TWENTY-THIRD

I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me.

TWENTY-FOURTH

Human nature will not change.

TWENTY-FIFTH

Beware of rashness!

TWENTY-SIXTH

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself.

TWENTY-SEVENTH

All should have an equal chance.

TWENTY-EIGHTH

I hope to be false to nothing you have been taught to expect of me.

TWENTY-NINTH

All honor to Jefferson!

THIRTIETH

It is the man who does not want to express an opinion whose opinion I want.

THIRTY-FIRST

I hope I am a Christian.