Browse quotations by Abraham Lincoln with named works, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.
Focused collections bring together quotations from this author around one recurring idea.
“Let us have faith that right makes might.”
Lincoln reverses the idea that power establishes right, arguing that moral judgment should guide sustained political action rather than treating strength or intimidation as proof of justice.
Source note: Cooper Union Address, February 27, 1860, closing passage. Lincoln is defending Republican opposition to the extension of slavery into federal territories; the line retains that antislavery political context.
“Let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively.”
Once a moral and political conclusion has been reached, Lincoln argues that intimidation and evasive compromise should not displace the duty that follows from that judgment.
Source note: Cooper Union Address, February 27, 1860. The sentence appears in Lincoln’s closing argument about opposing slavery’s spread and should not be detached into a context-free command about every disputed duty.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The closing line ties democratic government to public responsibility rather than rulers standing apart from citizens.
Source note: Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Lincoln uses a structural metaphor: a system pulled permanently in opposite directions cannot remain stable forever.
Source note: Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858.
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”
The statement treats freedom as a principle that cannot be morally reserved for one group while denied to another.
Source note: Letter dated April 6, 1859.
“Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother.”
Lincoln treats civic habits as something taught across generations, arguing that preservation of political institutions depends partly on learned respect for lawful processes.
Source note: Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838. This is a short clause from Lincoln’s extended call for reverence for law in homes, schools and public institutions, made in the immediate context of mob violence; it should not be read as a claim that every law is just.
“If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”
Lincoln warns that republican institutions can be destroyed from within through citizens’ own choices and conduct, making preservation a responsibility rather than assuming external enemies are the only danger.
Source note: Lyceum Address, January 27, 1838. Lincoln is discussing mob violence, disregard for law and the preservation of republican institutions; the sentence is not a generic prediction about national collapse.
“With malice toward none; with charity for all.”
The phrase argues for moral seriousness without revenge, especially after collective conflict.
Source note: Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.