QuotesQuotes from Lincoln and American leaders
Words from the speeches and writings of American leaders: Abraham Lincoln (1809 to 1865), Thomas Jefferson (1743 to 1826), Thomas Paine (1737 to 1809), Patrick Henry (1736 to 1799), Frederick Douglass (1818 to 1895), Theodore Roosevelt (1858 to 1919) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 to 1945).
Abraham Lincoln
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.
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 1865Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Abraham Lincoln, speech at Springfield, Illinois, 1858The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.
Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, 1862In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free.
Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, 1862As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln, note written about 1858
Jefferson, Paine and Henry
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
Thomas Jefferson and others, Declaration of Independence, 1776These are the times that try men's souls.
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1776The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1776Give me liberty, or give me death!
Patrick Henry, speech at Richmond, Virginia, 1775
Frederick Douglass
If there is no struggle there is no progress.
Frederick Douglass, West India Emancipation speech, 1857Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Frederick Douglass, West India Emancipation speech, 1857
Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.
Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic, Paris, 1910Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.
Theodore Roosevelt, speech at the Minnesota State Fair, 1901The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, 1933
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Good to know
- Each line names the speech or document and its year, so it can be checked in full.
- Patrick Henry's speech was not written down at the time. The famous line comes from a reconstruction printed in 1817.