"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

"As our case is new, we must think and act anew."

"I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow."

"A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have."

"The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every calling, is diligence."

"Biographies, as generally written, are not only misleading but false... In most instances, they commemorate a lie and cheat posterity out of the truth."

"I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right; but it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation may be on the Lord's side."

"I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end... I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me."

"Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old."

"Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality."

"Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory."

"Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

"The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed."

"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business."

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed."

"These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people; and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel."

"Some day I shall be President."

"With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die."

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."

"Never regret what you don't write."

"Don't swap horses in crossing a stream."

"In so far as the government lands can be disposed of, I am in favor of cutting up the wild lands into parcels so that every poor man may have a home."

"I have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from others."

"I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free."