THE LINCOLN YEAR BOOK
AXIOMS AND APHORISMS FROM THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR
JANUARY
The dogmas of the past are inadequate to the stormy present.
FIRST
Always do the very best you can.
SECOND
If our sense of duty forbids, then let us stand by our sense of duty.
THIRD
It's no use to be always looking up these hard spots.
FOURTH
All I am in the world, I owe to the opinion of me which the people express when they call me "Honest Old Abe."
FIFTH
The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody is hindering him.
SIXTH
No one has needed favors more than I.
SEVENTH
Whatever is calculated to improve the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, I am for that thing.
EIGHTH
All we want is time and patience.
NINTH
I esteem foreigners as no better than other people—nor any worse.
TENTH
My experience and observation have been that those who promise the most do the least.
ELEVENTH
I didn't know anything about it, but I thought you knew your own business best.
TWELFTH
If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points—not how many hairs there are in his tail.
THIRTEENTH
You must act.
FOURTEENTH
I will try, and do the best I can.
FIFTEENTH
His attitude is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he can not but work to be successful!
SIXTEENTH
Afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.
SEVENTEENTH
I want Christians to pray for me; I need their prayers.
EIGHTEENTH
The young men must not be permitted to drift away.
NINETEENTH
The free institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of the whole people beyond any example in the world.
TWENTIETH
I shall do nothing in malice.
TWENTY-FIRST
Good men do not agree.
TWENTY-SECOND
I shall, to the best of my ability, repel force by force.
TWENTY-THIRD
Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets.
TWENTY-FOURTH
I never thought he had more than average ability when we were young men together. But, then, I suppose he thought just the same about me.
TWENTY-FIFTH
Moral cowardice is something which I think I never had.
TWENTY-SIXTH
The patriotic instinct of plain people.
TWENTY-SEVENTH
The face of an old friend is like a ray of sunshine through dark and gloomy clouds.
TWENTY-EIGHTH
Will anybody do your work for you?
