Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

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.

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent.

The best way to get a bad law repeal is to enforce it strictly.

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

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, to bind up the nation's wounds.

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot log retain it. 

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

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.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.