Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.

If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already. It is but a small matter whether you read with anyone or not. I did not read with anyone. Get the books, and read and study them till you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing. It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at New Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places.

If we exchange one dollar, we both have one dollar each. But if we exchange one good thought, we both have two good thoughts

It is not merely for to-day, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children's children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives.

Care for him who shall have borne the battle

I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

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