99 Abraham Lincoln Quotes on Freedom & Equality (LIFE)

22 Inspiring Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Life

My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.

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

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. — Those who deny **freedom** to others, deserve it not for themselves.

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down. — I’m a **success** today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.

I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

I would rather be a little nobody, then to be an evil somebody.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.

To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own. — To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.

I will prepare and someday my chance will come.

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

The best way to predict your future is to create it. — The best way to predict your **future** is to create it.

There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.

Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.

Tact - the ability to describe others as they see themselves. — Tact – the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.

26 Best Abraham Lincoln Quotes to Motivate You to Live a Responsible Life

You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.”
Abraham Lincoln

And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

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

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

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong. — It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to **fear** to do wrong.

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being.

Every person’s happiness is their own responsibility. — Every person’s **happiness** is their own **responsibility**.

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

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

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

You can tell the greatness of someone by what makes them angry.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. — The best thing about the **future** is that it comes one day at a time.

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

I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

All I have learned, I learned from books.

The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships. — The better part of one’s life consists of his **friendships**.

I am not concerned that you have fallen — I am concerned that you arise.

22 Life-changing Abraham Lincoln Quotes

“The legitimate object of government is ‘to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves’.”
Abraham Lincoln

“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”
Abraham Lincoln

“The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite.”
Abraham Lincoln

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.”
Abraham Lincoln

Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.

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

Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.

We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.

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

Do good to those who hate you and turn their ill will to friendship.

If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end... — If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end…

The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

Common looking people are the best in the world - that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them. — Common looking people are the best in the world – that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage.

I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement I have the best of the bargain.

Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong.

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.

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

29 Famous Abraham Lincoln Quotes and Sayings

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
Abraham Lincoln

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Abraham Lincoln

Human action can be modified to some extend, but human nature cannot be changed. — Human **action** can be modified to some extend, but human **nature** cannot be changed.

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Love is the chain to lock a child to its parent.

A farce or comedy is best played; a tragedy is best read at home.

Let us remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling.

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.

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

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. — All that I am or ever **hope** to be, I owe to my angel mother.

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.

I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

I have a congenital aversion to failure.

The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land. — The greatest fine art of the **future** will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.

I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.

What is to be, will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.

We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety clouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read. — We live in the midst of alarms; anxiety clouds the **future**; we expect some new disaster with each newspaper we read.

There shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.

My father taught me to work, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don’t deny it. — My father taught me to **work**, but not to love it. I never did like to work, and I don’t deny it.

The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of generosity. — The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of **generosity**.

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature – opposite to it, in his love of justice. — Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s **nature** – opposite to it, in his love of justice.

I can make a General in five minutes but a good horse is hard to replace.

Abraham Lincoln Short Biography

Born February 12, 1809, Kentucky and the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln served in the White House from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.

Also known as Honest Abe, the Rail-Splitter, or the Great Emancipator.

Abraham Lincoln is an outstanding leader. He was known for preserving the Union and eradicating slavery during the American Civil War (fought between the Northern and Southern U.S. due to uncompromising differences in their views of slavery).

Dubbed one of American greatest heroes, Abraham Lincoln is the classic rug to riches example as he didn’t have a noble background, unlike many leaders.

His life was a living message that people can surpass their background – no matter how terrible it may be – to achieve remarkable results.

Lincoln endured many setbacks but he didn’t allow those setbacks to deter him. Two of his greatest attributes were his:

Big heart and character. Lincoln believed in human rights and racial equality. And he believed in befriending his enemy. (Today, obviously a challenge for many leaders)
Courage and determination to press forward regardless of failures and setbacks.

These were his strengths that made him an exceptional leader but there were many more virtues such as honesty, responsibility, service, and humility that made Abraham Lincoln a crucial figure.

If it wasn’t for this great man, many people can agree that the United States will not be the U.S. we know of today (and possibly even the world).

Lincoln had such a tremendous impact that the people from all around the world have endowed him with such an enduring legacy.

Further reading:

50 interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln’s life – Constitution Center
10 Things You May Not Know About Abraham Lincoln – History
The Night Abraham Lincoln Was Assassinated – Smithsonian Magazine

Below are some of the most important quotes by Abraham Lincoln so you can be inspired to live life to the fullest.

(MUST READ)

**Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln**

Also read:

22 Inspiring Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Life

26 Best Abraham Lincoln Quotes to Motivate You to Live a Responsible Life

22 Life-changing Abraham Lincoln Quotes

29 Famous Abraham Lincoln Quotes and Sayings

Abraham Lincoln Short Biography

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