Government Quotes by Abraham Lincoln

I hear you have abolitionists here. We have a few in Illinois, but we shot one the other day.

— Abraham Lincoln

In all that people can do for themselves, government ought not to interfere.

— Abraham Lincoln

Now, and ever, I shall do all in my power for peace, consistently with the maintenance of government.

— Abraham Lincoln

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.

— Abraham Lincoln

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.

— Abraham Lincoln

No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent.

— Abraham Lincoln

I believe this Government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

— Abraham Lincoln

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens.

— Abraham Lincoln

I am struggling to maintain the government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it.

— Abraham Lincoln

As an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left…

— Abraham Lincoln

The United States government must not undertake to run the Churches. When an individual, in the Church or out of it, becomes…

— Abraham Lincoln

That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and…

— Abraham Lincoln

So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war power of the Government; and so to resist…

— Abraham Lincoln

Government should stand behind its currency and credit and the bank deposits of the nation. No individual should suffer a loss of…

— Abraham Lincoln

The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and…

— Abraham Lincoln

We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious…

— Abraham Lincoln

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not…

— Abraham Lincoln

The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and…

— Abraham Lincoln

We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a…

— Abraham Lincoln

A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not…

— Abraham Lincoln

We must settle this question now -- whether in a free government the minority have the right to break it up whenever…

— Abraham Lincoln

That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now is not much to be wondered…

— Abraham Lincoln

It is my ambition and desire to so administer the affairs of the government while I remain President that if at the…

— Abraham Lincoln

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves…

— Abraham Lincoln

I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far…

— Abraham Lincoln

I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, that the working men are the basis of all governments, for the plain reason that they…

— Abraham Lincoln

Most governments have been based, practically, on the denial of equal rights of menours began, by affirming those rights. They said, some…

— Abraham Lincoln

The provision of the Constitution giving the war making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons:…

— Abraham Lincoln

In using the strong hand, as now compelled to do, the government has a difficult duty to perform. At the very best,…

— Abraham Lincoln

And, inasmuch [as] most good things are produced by labour, it follows that all such things of right belong to those whose…

— Abraham Lincoln

“Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him…

— Abraham Lincoln

By adoption of these principles, the long-felt want for a uniform medium will be satisfied. The taxpayers will be saved immense sums…

— Abraham Lincoln

A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.

— Abraham Lincoln

“You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.”

— Abraham Lincoln

If all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government.

— Abraham Lincoln

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.

— Abraham Lincoln

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

— Abraham Lincoln

Democracy is "government of, by and for the people".

— Abraham Lincoln

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burthens.

— Abraham Lincoln

While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the…

— Abraham Lincoln