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

JANUARY

The dogmas of the past are inadequate to the stormy present.

Always do the very best you can.

If our sense of duty forbids, then let us stand by our sense of duty.

It's no use to be always looking up these hard spots.

All I am in the world, I owe to the opinion of me which the people express when they call me "Honest Old Abe."

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody is hindering him.

No one has needed favors more than I.

Whatever is calculated to improve the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, I am for that thing.

All we want is time and patience.

I esteem foreigners as no better than other people – nor any worse.

My experience and observation have been that those who promise the most do the least.

I didn't know anything about it, but I thought you knew your own business best.

If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points – not how many hairs there are in his tail.

You must act.

I will try, and do the best I can.

His attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he can not but work to be successful!

Afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.

I want Christians to pray for me; I need their prayers.

The young men must not be permitted to drift away.

The free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of the whole people beyond any example in the world.

I shall do nothing in malice.

Good men do not agree.

I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets.

I never thought he had more than average ability when we were young men together. But, then, I suppose he thought just the same about me.

Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had.

The patriotic instinct of plain people.

The face of an old friend is like a ray of sunshine through dark and gloomy clouds.

Will anybody do your work for you?

My rightful masters, the American people.

Should any one in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?

The value of life is to improve one's condition.

FEBRUARY

Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed.

Labor is like any other commodity in the market – increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it.

When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.

I say "try," for if we never try, we never succeed.

The pioneer in any movement is not generally the best man to bring that movement to a successful issue.

Defeat and failure make everything seem wrong.

This nation cannot live on injustice.

Something had to be done, and, as there does not appear to be any one else to do it, I did it.

Poor parsons seem always to have large families.

If it be true that the Lord has appointed me to do the work you have indicated, is it not probable that he would have communicated knowledge of the fact to me as well as to you?

I trust I shall be willing to do my duty, though it costs my life.

I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.

What there is of me is self-made.

I was young once, and I am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back.

Thank God for not making me a woman, but if He had, I suppose He would have made me just as ugly as He did, and no one would ever have tempted me.

You may say anything you like about me, – if that will help.

No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty – none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned.

As our case is new, so we must think anew.

I shall do less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the cause; and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more helps the cause.

No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us.

If I can learn God's will, I will do it.

It is the nature of the case, and no one is to blame.

Tell the whole truth.

He sticks through thick and thin, – I admire such a man.

If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution, – certainly would if such right were a vital one.

My hand was tired; but my resolution was firm.

It is a difficult role, and so much the greater will be the honor if you perform it well.

I shall write my papers myself. The people will understand them.

Though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill-temper.

Have confidence in yourself, a valuable if not indispensable quality.

MARCH

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.

Twenty thousand is as much as any man ought to want.

By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never given merely to save a limb.

Trust to the good sense of the American people.

Let us judge not, that we be not judged.

Put the foot down firmly.

The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion.

I bring a heart true to the work.

The people will save their government, if the government itself will do its part only indifferently well.

Most certainly I intend no injustice to any one, and if I have done any I deeply regret it.

With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.

Action in the crisis of a nation must accord with its necessities, and therefore can seldom be confined to precedent.

You can't put a long sword in a short scabbard.

"I have made it a rule of my life," said the old parson, "not to cross Fox River until I get to it."

It is sometimes well to be humble.

Don't let joy carry you into excesses.

Liberty is your birthright.

If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or government will cease.

Learn the laws and obey them.

It is easy to conceive that all these shades of opinion, and even more, may be sincerely entertained by honest and truthful men.

It is better only sometimes to be right than at all times wrong.

When you have an elephant on hand, and he wants to run away, better let him run.

Whatever God designs, He will do for me yet.

Quarrel not at all.

Let no opportunity of making a mark escape.

I want in all cases to do right; and most particularly so in all cases with women.

I should rejoice to be spared the labor of a contest, but being in I shall go it thoroughly.

I intend discourtesy to no one.

The doctrine of self-government is right – absolutely and eternally right.

This government is expressly charged with the duty of providing for the general welfare.

We are not bound to follow implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so would be to reject all progress, all improvement.

Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the elevation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them.

APRIL

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause which we deem to be just.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

He has abundant talents – quite enough to occupy all his time without devoting any to temper.

I do not argue – I beseech you to make the argument for yourself.

Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?

Lift artificial weights from all shoulders.

The purposes of the Lord are perfect and must prevail.

Some people say they could not take very well to my proclamation, but now that I have the varioloid, I am happy to say I have something that everybody can take.

Honest statesmanship is the employment of individual meannesses for the public good.

Obey God's commandments.

Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them.

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

There is but one duty now – to fight.

A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people.

This, too, shall pass away: never fear.

I am not afraid to die.

I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.

Let us strive on to finish the work we are in.

Give us a little more light, and a little less noise.

The wild lands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefiting his condition.

I shall try to correct errors, when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views, so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

There is nothing like getting used to things.

When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government – that is despotism.

If they kill me, the next will be just as bad for them.

With Shakespeare the thought suffices.

As to the crazy folks – why, I must take my chances.

I think it more rare, if not more wise, for a public man to abstain from much speaking.

At any rate, I will keep my part of the bargain.

The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he made so many of them.

When the time comes, I shall take the ground I think is right.

Let the thing be pressed.

MAY

Two principles have stood face to face from the beginning of time and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity; the other is the divine right of kings.

Revolutionize through the ballot box.

Repeal all past history, – you still can not repeal human nature.

Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as other rights.

Teach men that what they can not take by an election, neither can they take by war.

I authorize no bargains, and will be bound by none.

When a man is sincerely penitent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evidence of the same, he can safely be pardoned.

If destruction be our lot, it must spring up among ourselves.

In a democracy, where the majority rule by the ballot through the forms of law, physical rebellions are radically wrong, unconstitutional, and are treason.

Let us be friends, and treat each other like friends.

If I was less thin-skinned I should get along much better.

We will talk over the merits of the case.

Nothing shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by the American people and God.

Are you not over-cautious?

The severest justice may not always be the best policy.

The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible.

One poor man, colored though he be, with God on his side, is stronger against us than the hosts of the Rebellion.

Never fear, victory will come.

The Lord has not deserted me thus far, and He is not going to now.

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

Are you strong enough?

If I do not go away from here a wiser man, I shall go away a better man.

I know that liberty is right.

You must not give me the praise – it belongs to God.

It has always been a sentiment with me that all mankind should be free.

I don't pretend to be bright.

It is only by the active development of events that character and ability can be tested.

I remember a good story when I hear it, but I never invented anything original: I am only a retail dealer.

Few men are tried, or so many would not fit their places so badly.

Preach God and liberty to the "bulls" and "bears."

The Union is older than any of the States.

I only beg that you will not ask impossibilities of me.

JUNE

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, – that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain.

Let the people know the truth, and the country is safe.

Men moving in an official circle are apt to become merely official – not to say arbitrary.

Negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them?

The Lord is always on the side of the right.

If I go down, I intend to go down like the "Cumberland," with my colors flying.

Killing the dog does not cure the bite.

I am nothing, but truth is everything.

Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.

Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do.

Only those generals who gain success can be dictators.

Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws?

The Patagonians open oysters and throw the shells out of the window – until the pile gets higher than the house; then they move.

The question of time can not and must not be ignored.

We must be more cheerful in the future.

Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe.

Keep in your own sphere, and there will be no difficulty.

If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it.

I am never easy, when I am handling a thought, until I have bounded it north, south, east, and west.

Others have been made fools of by the girls, but this can never be said of me; I made a fool of myself.

It is not best to swap horses while crossing a stream.

I can only trust in God that I have made no mistake.

It has been said of the world's history hitherto that "might makes right"; it is for us and for our times to reverse the maxim, and to show that right makes might.

I shall stay right here and do my duty.

If we have no friends, we have no pleasure.

I am older in years than I am in the tricks and trades of politicians.

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

Our enemies want a squabble; and that they can have if we explain; and they can not have it if we don't.

If it must be that I go down, let me go down linked to truth.

I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it.

Let us forget errors.

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.

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

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

We hold the power – and bear the responsibility.

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.

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

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

I have more pegs than holes to put them in.

The government must not undertake to run the churches.

All seems well with us.

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

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

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

Let us see what we can do.

I will try to go to God with my sorrows.

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

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

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

God bless the women of America!

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

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

Answer with facts, not with arguments.

The nation is beginning a new life.

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

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

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

Early impressions last longer.

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

My advice is to keep cool.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Maintain the honor and integrity of the nation.

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

Secure peace through victory.

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

Our government rests in public opinion.

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.

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

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

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

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

Do not mix politics with your profession.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

We are going through with our task.

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

Human nature will not change.

Beware of rashness!

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

All should have an equal chance.

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

All honor to Jefferson!

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

I hope I am a Christian.

SEPTEMBER

I feel that the time is coming when the sun shall shine, the rain fall, on no man who shall go forth to unrequited toil.

Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration.

Come, let us reason together, like the honest fellows we are.

There is no such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer.

There is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits.

Labor is prior to and independent of capital.

This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed.

Workingmen are the basis of all governments.

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world?

The man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I.

How hard it is to leave one's country no better than if one had never lived in it!