Nobody has ever expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting out..

I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me..

I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country..

Writing is the great invention of the world..

When the hour comes for dealing with slavery, I trust I will be willing to do my duty though it cost my life..

Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would, directly, or indirectly, interfere with their slaves, or wi….

I failed, I failed, and that is about all that can be said about it..

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own..

I hear you have abolitionists here. We have a few in Illinois, but we shot one the other day..

I never trusted a man who never smoked or drank..

Do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of Independence..

A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability..

It is my pleasure that my children are free and happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents..

If I have one vice and I can call it nothing else it is not able to say 'no'..

You may have a wen or a cancer upon your person and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death; but surely it is no way tocure it, to engraft ….

Peace will come soon to stay, and so come as to be worth keeping in all future time. It will then have proved that among free men there can be no suc….

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets..

I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to i….

The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and of generosity. What one of us but can call to mind some rel….

Our common country is in great peril, demanding the loftiest views, and boldest action to bring it speedy relief..

I had been told I was on the road to hell, but I had no idea it was just a mile down the road with a dome on it..