60+ Inspiring Abraham Lincoln Quotes about Freedom

Abraham Lincoln is remembered as one of America's greatest presidents, known for his leadership during the Civil War and his commitment to preserving the union. But beyond his political accomplishments, Lincoln was also a deep thinker and philosopher, with a deep appreciation for the value of freedom and liberty. In honor of Presidents' Day, we've compiled a list of  60+ our favorite Abraham Lincoln quotes about freedom and liberty. These words of wisdom offer insight into Lincoln's views on this important value, and provide inspiration for anyone looking to be motivated by one of America's most revered leaders.

 

 

 60+ Inspiring Abraham Lincoln Quotes about Freedom

 

 Abraham Lincoln Contributions

Abraham Lincoln made significant contributions to the United States during his presidency, most notably leading the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War. He also played a key role in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which permanently abolished slavery throughout the United States.

In addition to his efforts to preserve the Union and end slavery, Lincoln also implemented several other important policies during his presidency. He established the first national banking system and signed the Homestead Act, which provided land to anyone who was willing to cultivate and improve it. He also signed the Pacific Railway Acts, which provided government support for the construction of a transcontinental railroad.

Overall, Lincoln's contributions to the United States helped to shape the country into what it is today and his legacy continues to be celebrated and remembered.

 

What was Abraham Lincoln's most famous quote?

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”

Why is Abraham Lincoln so famous?

Abraham Lincoln is famous for his role as the 16th President of the United States and for leading the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War. He is also known for his strong leadership and his ability to navigate the country through difficult and tumultuous times.

Lincoln is particularly famous for his role in the abolition of slavery in the United States. He signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the Confederate states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free," and he also played a key role in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which permanently abolished slavery throughout the United States.

In addition to his efforts to end slavery, Lincoln is also famous for his eloquence and his memorable speeches, including the Gettysburg Address. He is often considered one of the greatest presidents in American history and his legacy continues to be celebrated and remembered.

Was Lincoln a genius?

Abraham Lincoln is often considered one of the greatest presidents in American history and is widely recognized as a brilliant political strategist and leader. He was able to navigate the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, and played a key role in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which permanently abolished slavery throughout the United States.

Lincoln was also known for his sharp wit and eloquence, as demonstrated by his memorable speeches, including the Gettysburg Address. He was able to communicate complex ideas in a way that was clear and understandable to a wide audience, and was able to inspire and rally people behind a common cause.

Overall, Lincoln's intelligence and leadership abilities have contributed to his enduring legacy as one of the most respected and revered figures in American history.

Here are  60+ Inspiring Abraham Lincoln Quotes about Freedom

 

• "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
• "The best way to predict your future is to create it."
• "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
• "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end."
• "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• Whatever you are, be a good one.
• Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
• Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.
• "The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read."
• "I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."
• "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." - Abraham Lincoln
• "Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it." - Abraham Lincoln
• "The only way for us to be truly free is for all of us to be equal." - Abraham Lincoln
• "We can not escape history." - Abraham Lincoln
• "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." - Abraham Lincoln
• "The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one." - Abraham Lincoln
• "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer them in possession of the truth." - Abraham Lincoln
• "I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." - Abraham Lincoln
• "When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted." - Abraham Lincoln
• "The strength of the nation lies in the homes of its people." - Abraham Lincoln
• "Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world." - Abraham Lincoln
• "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." - Abraham Lincoln
• "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." - Abraham Lincoln
• "Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day!" - Abraham Lincoln
• "The best way to predict your future is to create it." - Abraham Lincoln
• "Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it." - Abraham Lincoln
• When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
• I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.
• I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.
• He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.
• To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.
• It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
• Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.
• I will prepare and someday my chance will come.
• If you would win a man to your cause first convince him that you are his sincere friend.
• The best way to predict your future is to create it.
• I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.
• I would rather be a little nobody, then to be an evil somebody.
• Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
• When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.
• There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.
• Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.
• Tact – the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
• And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.
• I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
• We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
• Abraham Lincoln
• America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
• Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
• Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
• Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.
• Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.
• As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
• Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.
• As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
• Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
• This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
• We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
• Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought
• Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
• Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
• Do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of Independence.
• I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the Declaration of Independence that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence, I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.
• I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
• Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.
• I intend no modification of my oft-expressed wish that all men everywhere could be free.
• And then, the negro being doomed, and damned, and forgotten, to everlasting bondage, is the white man quite certain that the tyrant demon will not turn upon him too?

 

 Also Read:  100+ Inspiring Motivational Quotes for Study

Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Life

• "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
• "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end."
• "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."

 

Abraham Lincoln Quotes On Character

• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
• "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end."
• "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

 

Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Motivation

• "The best way to predict your future is to create it."
• "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
• "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end."
• "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."

 

Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Happiness

• "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
• "Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be."
• "Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them."
• "Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
• "Happiness is a state of mind. It's just according to the way you look at things."
• "Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
• "Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination."
• "Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it."
• "Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so."
• "Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product."

 

Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Pain

• "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."
• "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."
• "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Also Read:  60+ Wise Sayings by Albert Einstein to Remember

Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Success

• "The best way to predict your future is to create it."
• "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
• "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end."
• "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."
• "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
• "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
• "I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
• "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."
• "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."

 

Abraham Lincoln Quotes On Friends and Enemies

• "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"
• "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
• "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"
• "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."
• "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my ax."
• "My enemies I can handle with a little help, but my friends, my God, my friends."
• "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."
• "If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four sharpening my ax."
• "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax."
• "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, Abraham Lincoln's thoughts on freedom and liberty continue to inspire and influence people to this day. His commitment to preserving the Union and ending slavery helped to shape the United States into a more just and equitable society. His leadership and eloquence during one of the most difficult periods in the country's history have cemented his place as one of the most respected and revered figures in American history. These 60+ Inspiring Abraham Lincoln Quotes about Freedom compiled in this article offer a glimpse into Lincoln's thoughts and beliefs on this important subject and serve as a reminder of the enduring values of equality and justice that he fought to uphold.