If you conduct a simple internet search of “Abraham Lincoln quotes,” your search will return pages and pages that, in one way or another, relay information about the most popular president in American history.
Here are some of our favorite Lincoln quotes in honor of the birthday of this great leader:
Upon signing the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863: “I never in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.... If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.”
Included in a letter to Isham Reavis dated Nov. 5, 1855: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.”
Abraham Lincoln-Hannibal Hamlin campaign button for 1860 presidential election After being elected president in 1860: “In all our rejoicing let us neither express, nor cherish, any harsh feeling towards any citizen who, by his vote, has differed with us. Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling.”
During the Lincoln-Douglas debate for a Senate seat in Galesburg, Illinois (Oct. 7, 1858): “This slavery question has been the only one that has ever endangered our Republican institutions — the only one that has ever threatened or menaced a dissolution of the Union — that has ever disturbed us in such a way as to make us fear for the perpetuity of our liberty.”
After a serenade celebrating his re-election to the presidency on Nov. 10, 1864: “Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, patriotic men, are better than gold.”
During his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, with plans to start healing the nation after the Civil War: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
You’ll note that many of these remarks came from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum website. The site has a searchable database of 559 quotes attributed to Lincoln.
Take a few minutes, in honor of Lincoln’s birthday, to read more of his quotes. You can even search by year and by topic, whether you’re interested in reading messages pertaining to the economy, leadership, love, humor as well as his inspirational and famous declarations.
If you’re looking for pieces that commemorate this beloved and respected president, Gettysburg Sentinels has a variety of unique Lincoln pieces made from wood reclaimed from the Gettysburg battlefield that stood at the time Lincoln visited Gettysburg in 1863.
Pieces include a shadow box featuring a piece of a sycamore Witness Tree wood, imagery related to activities of that November day as well as an engraved sample of the wood, an uncirculated 2011 Gettysburg commemorative U.S. Quarter and an authentic Civil War bullet; an engraved flask; handcrafted executive pens; magnifying glass; bottle stopper; or even an Abraham Lincoln Witness Tree Gift Set containing the shadow box items above as well as a gold and chrome letter opener and a gold and chrome pen—all packaged in a beautifully engraved wooden box. All pieces from Gettysburg Sentinels come with documentation of the tree’s origins.
Don’t miss your opportunity to own—or gift—a powerful piece of Lincoln memorabilia.