I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

You can always lie to others and hide your actions from them... but you can not fool yourself

A man's legs must be long enough to reach the ground.

Man is not the only animal who labors; but he is the only one who improves his workmanship.

Do I not damage my enemies after i make them my close friends?

For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then is due to the soldier.

I affect no contempt for the high eminence he [Senator Stephen Douglas] has reached. So reached, that the oppressed of my species,might have shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence, than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow.