No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.

The sunlight that has brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.

I love the religion of Christianity - which cometh from above - which is a pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of good fruits, and without hypocrisy.

I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity...

I do not think much of the good luck theory of self-made men. It is worth but little attention and has no practical value.

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

Viewing the man from the genuine abolitionist ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed cold, tardy, weak and unequal to the task. But, viewing him from the sentiments of his people, which as a statesman he was bound to respect, then his actions were swift, bold, radical and decisive. Taking the man in the whole, balancing the tremendous magnitude of the situation, and the necessary means to ends, Infinite Wisdom has rarely sent a man into the world more perfectly suited to his mission than Abraham Lincoln.