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

MARCH

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

FIRST

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

SECOND

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.

THIRD

Trust to the good sense of the American people.

FOURTH

Let us judge not, that we be not judged.

FIFTH

Put the foot down firmly.

SIXTH

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

SEVENTH

I bring a heart true to the work.

EIGHTH

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

NINTH

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

TENTH

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

ELEVENTH

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

TWELFTH

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

THIRTEENTH

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

FOURTEENTH

It is sometimes well to be humble.

FIFTEENTH

Don't let joy carry you into excesses.

SIXTEENTH

Liberty is your birthright.

SEVENTEENTH

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

EIGHTEENTH

Learn the laws and obey them.

NINETEENTH

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

TWENTIETH

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

TWENTY-FIRST

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

TWENTY-SECOND

Whatever God designs, He will do for me yet.

TWENTY-THIRD

Quarrel not at all.

TWENTY-FOURTH

Let no opportunity of making a mark escape.

TWENTY-FIFTH

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

TWENTY-SIXTH

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

TWENTY-SEVENTH

I intend discourtesy to no one.

TWENTY-EIGHTH

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

TWENTY-NINTH

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

THIRTIETH

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

THIRTY-FIRST

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.

FIRST

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.

SECOND

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

THIRD

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

FOURTH

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

FIFTH

Lift artificial weights from all shoulders.

SIXTH

The purposes of the Lord are perfect and must prevail.

SEVENTH

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.

EIGHTH

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

NINTH

Obey God's commandments.

TENTH

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

ELEVENTH

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

TWELFTH

There is but one duty now – to fight.

THIRTEENTH

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.

FOURTEENTH

This, too, shall pass away: never fear.

FIFTEENTH

I am not afraid to die.

SIXTEENTH

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

SEVENTEENTH

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

EIGHTEENTH

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

NINETEENTH

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

TWENTIETH

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.

TWENTY-FIRST

There is nothing like getting used to things.

TWENTY-SECOND

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.

TWENTY-THIRD

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

TWENTY-FOURTH

With Shakespeare the thought suffices.

TWENTY-FIFTH

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

TWENTY-SIXTH

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

TWENTY-SEVENTH

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

TWENTY-EIGHTH

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

TWENTY-NINTH

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

THIRTIETH

Let the thing be pressed.