Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.
Letter to Isham Reavis (1855)
Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.
Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives (1848)
The way for a young man to rise, is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him.
Letter to William H. Herndon (1848)
Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day.
Notes for a Law Lecture (c. 1850)
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser, in fees, expenses, and waste of time.
Notes for a Law Lecture (c. 1850)
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. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.
Annual Message to Congress (1862)
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.
Cooper Union Address (1860)
The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.
Letter to Joseph Gillespie (1849)
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.
Second Inaugural Address (1865)
Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
Speech at Peoria, Illinois (1854)