You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government; while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend" it.
The mystic chords of memory stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
In giving freedom to the slaves we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.
Do not swap horses in the middle of the stream.
You can fool part of the people all of the time, and all of the people part of the time; but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
The leading rule for the man of every calling is diligence; never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
I never let an idea escape, but write it on a piece of paper and put it in a drawer. In this way I sometimes save my best thoughts on a subject.
Wealth is a superfluity of what we do not need.