Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.
If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
Let us strive on to finish the work we are in.
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
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.
Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.
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.
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.
I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
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 things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.
The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.
I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest.
My experience has taught me that a man who has no vices has damned few virtues.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.
I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
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.
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.