THE LINCOLN YEAR BOOK
AXIOMS AND APHORISMS FROM THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR
JANUARY
The dogmas of the past are inadequate to the stormy present.
FIRST
Always do the very best you can.
SECOND
If our sense of duty forbids, then let us stand by our sense of duty.
THIRD
It's no use to be always looking up these hard spots.
FOURTH
All I am in the world, I owe to the opinion of me which the people express when they call me "Honest Old Abe."
FIFTH
The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody is hindering him.
SIXTH
No one has needed favors more than I.
SEVENTH
Whatever is calculated to improve the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, I am for that thing.
EIGHTH
All we want is time and patience.
NINTH
I esteem foreigners as no better than other people—nor any worse.
TENTH
My experience and observation have been that those who promise the most do the least.
ELEVENTH
I didn't know anything about it, but I thought you knew your own business best.
TWELFTH
If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points—not how many hairs there are in his tail.
THIRTEENTH
You must act.
FOURTEENTH
I will try, and do the best I can.
FIFTEENTH
His attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he can not but work to be successful!
SIXTEENTH
Afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.
SEVENTEENTH
I want Christians to pray for me; I need their prayers.
EIGHTEENTH
The young men must not be permitted to drift away.
NINETEENTH
The free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of the whole people beyond any example in the world.
TWENTIETH
I shall do nothing in malice.
TWENTY-FIRST
Good men do not agree.
TWENTY-SECOND
I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force.
TWENTY-THIRD
Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets.
TWENTY-FOURTH
I never thought he had more than average ability when we were young men together. But, then, I suppose he thought just the same about me.
TWENTY-FIFTH
Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had.
TWENTY-SIXTH
The patriotic instinct of plain people.
TWENTY-SEVENTH
The face of an old friend is like a ray of sunshine through dark and gloomy clouds.
TWENTY-EIGHTH
Will anybody do your work for you?
TWENTY-NINTH
My rightful masters, the American people.
THIRTIETH
Should any one in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?
THIRTY-FIRST
The value of life is to improve one's condition.
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FEBRUARY
Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed.
FIRST
Labor is like any other commodity in the market—increase the demand for it and you increase the price of it.
SECOND
When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.
THIRD
I say "try," for if we never try, we never succeed.
FOURTH
The pioneer in any movement is not generally the best man to bring that movement to a successful issue.
FIFTH
Defeat and failure make everything seem wrong.
SIXTH
This nation cannot live on injustice.
SEVENTH
Something had to be done, and, as there does not appear to be any one else to do it, I did it.
EIGHTH
Poor parsons seem always to have large families.
NINTH
If it be true that the Lord has appointed me to do the work you have indicated, is it not probable that he would have communicated knowledge of the fact to me as well as to you?
TENTH
I trust I shall be willing to do my duty, though it costs my life.
ELEVENTH
I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.
TWELFTH
What there is of me is self-made.
THIRTEENTH
I was young once, and I am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back.
FOURTEENTH
Thank God for not making me a woman, but if He had, I suppose He would have made me just as ugly as He did, and no one would ever have tempted me.
FIFTEENTH
You may say anything you like about me,—if that will help.
SIXTEENTH
No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty—none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned.
SEVENTEENTH
As our case is new, so we must think anew.
EIGHTEENTH
I shall do less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the cause; and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more helps the cause.
NINETEENTH
No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us.
TWENTIETH
If I can learn God's will, I will do it.
TWENTY-FIRST
It is the nature of the case, and no one is to blame.
TWENTY-SECOND
Tell the whole truth.
TWENTY-THIRD
He sticks through thick and thin,—I admire such a man.
TWENTY-FOURTH
If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution,—certainly would if such right were a vital one.
TWENTY-FIFTH
My hand was tired; but my resolution was firm.
TWENTY-SIXTH
It is a difficult role, and so much the greater will be the honor if you perform it well.
TWENTY-SEVENTH
I shall write my papers myself. The people will understand them.
TWENTY-EIGHTH
Though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill-temper.
TWENTY-NINTH
Have confidence in yourself, a valuable if not indispensable quality.
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MARCH
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.
FIRST
Twenty thousand is as much as any man ought to want.
SECOND
By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never given merely to save a limb.
THIRD
Trust to the good sense of the American people.
FOURTH
Let us judge not, that we be not judged.
FIFTH
Put the foot down firmly.
SIXTH
The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion.
SEVENTH
I bring a heart true to the work.
EIGHTH
The people will save their government, if the government itself will do its part only indifferently well.
NINTH
Most certainly I intend no injustice to any one, and if I have done any I deeply regret it.
TENTH
With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.
ELEVENTH
Action in the crisis of a nation must accord with its necessities, and therefore can seldom be confined to precedent.
TWELFTH
You can't put a long sword in a short scabbard.
THIRTEENTH
"I have made it a rule of my life," said the old parson, "not to cross Fox River until I get to it."
FOURTEENTH
It is sometimes well to be humble.
FIFTEENTH
Don't let joy carry you into excesses.
SIXTEENTH
