Abraham Lincoln

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

If you think you can slander a woman into loving you, or a man into voting for you, try it till you are satisfied.

If the people of Utah shall peacefully form a State Constitution tolerating polygamy, will the Democracy admit them into the Union?

No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.

With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.

The legal right of the Southern people to reclaim their fugitives I have constantly admitted. The legal right of Congress to interfere with their institution in the states, I have constantly denied.

Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people to exclude slavery, voted down? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.