One of the Most Recognizable Icons in History
From poverty to the highest office in the land
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At the turn of the 19th century, he was born into poverty in a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor and one window in Kentucky. No one would have guessed at the time he would become one of the most renowned people in the world. He was self-taught, with less than one year of formal education and no college yet was admitted to the bar in Illinois allowing him to become a lawyer.
Very tall for his time at 6’4”, as a young man he had about 300 wrestling matches and was defeated only once. He is the only former president honored with an award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame!
Born Abraham Lincoln in 1809 on Sinking Spring Farm in Kentucky, he was assassinated in 1865 at the age of 56 years old. At the time he was serving as the 16th president of the United States. The American Civil War had ended only a few days earlier.
He became president of the United States at the age of 52 in 1861. He continues to be listed among the top three presidents of the United States, often as number one.
If you wish to read some of this man’s amazing words you can find them at Project Gutenberg. Let’s take a look at some of the things said by one of the most recognizable, and therefore iconic, men in history.
People
“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.”
“When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.”
“Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.”
Wit and Humor
“What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.”
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
“No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.”
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“Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.”
“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
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“A jury too often has at least one member more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor.”
“My Dear McClellan, if you don’t want to use the army I should like to borrow it for a while. Yours respectfully.”
Inspiration
“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.”
“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
“Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.”
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“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”
“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
“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.”
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“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
“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.”
Wisdom
“If you would win a man to your cause first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”
“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
“A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.”
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“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
“Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.”
“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”
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“In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.”
“Every man’s happiness is his own responsibility.”
“Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”
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“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 can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be an evil somebody.”
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“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”
“How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”
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“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
“You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.”
“No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.”
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“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.”
“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”
“There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.”
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“If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.”
“He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.”
“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.”
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“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.”
“Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him.”
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“When I’m 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 thinking about him and what he is going to say.”
“Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.”
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”
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“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”
“I have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from others.”
“I hold that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.”
America — Government
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.”
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
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“I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.”
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
“No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent.”
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“’A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”
“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.”
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
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“Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable — a most sacred right — a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.”
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
“I desire to so conduct the affairs of the administration that if, at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall have at least one friend left — and that friend shall be down inside of me.”
Books
“Get books, sit yourself down anywhere, and go to reading them yourself.”
“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.”
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new at all.”
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“My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.”
“All I have learned, I learned from books.”
“A capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.”
Success
“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.”
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”
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“I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.”
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
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“I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.”
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.”
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.”
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“I am not concerned that you have fallen — I am concerned that you arise.”
“Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.”
“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.”
Character
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
“Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.”
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“We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.”
“You can tell the greatness of someone by what makes them angry”
“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
Life
“I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”
“The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.”
“If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again.”
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“I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
“I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life.” “It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.”
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“Life is hard but so very beautiful”
“In this sad world of ours sorrow comes to all and it often comes with bitter agony. Perfect relief is not possible except with time. You cannot now believe that you will ever feel better. But this is not true. You are sure to be happy again. Knowing this, truly believing it will make you less miserable now. I have had enough experience to make this statement.”
God
“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.”
“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”
Numerous books have been written about Lincoln. His personal and public writings have been preserved online, and there have been many films and documentaries made of him and his life. There is far more to learn from this gentle giant of history. His life is worth studying to uncover more of what has made America the great nation it is.
I leave you with a final quote from Lincoln to challenge you to become what you want to become and accomplish the desires of your heart!
“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
Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION.
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