Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.
Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Fourscore 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.
All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother.
People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax.
I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? Five? No, calling a tail a leg don't make it a leg.
I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.