“As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

— Abraham Lincoln, Lyceum address, Springfield, Illinois (27 January 1838)

About Abraham Lincoln

1809 – 1865

Sixteenth President of the United States, who led the nation through the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

“The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.”

“Let them adopt the maxim, "Better luck next time"; and then, by renewed exertion, make that better luck for themselves.”

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.”

“No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle.”

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

“A living dog is better than a dead lion.”

“Ye are better than all the ballads that ever were sung or said; for ye are living poems, and all the rest are dead.”

“Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.”

“The life of the dead is in the memory of the living.”