The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln - Top 10 Quotes

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th President of the United States, is revered for leading the nation during its most troubled period, the American Civil War. He was successful in preserving the Union and ending slavery.

In my opinion, he was the most quotable of all the presidents. He had a grounded sense of humor and a kind of commonsense wisdom, which comes through in his speeches and writings. I've been collecting quotes by Lincoln for a long time, and in my opinion they are yet another reason we have such affection for him today.

Here are my Top 10 favorites:

On ATTITUDE - "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

On CHARACTER - “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

On FAIRNESS - "If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance."

On FRIENDSHIP - “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”

On HONESTY - “No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.”

On PASSIONS - “Nothing in this world is impossible to a willing heart.”

On RESPONSIBILITY - "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

On SELF-DEVELOPMENT - “The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.”

On SERVICE - "I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow."

On VISION - "If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it."

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength . (The image of Lincoln is in the public domain, available from the U. S. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)