Abraham Lincoln Quotes: 24 Historical Sayings By Former President On Anniversary Of His Assassination

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, is one of the most revered politicians in the country who issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves should be free at a time when slavery was considered the norm.

Lincoln’s forward-thinking views did not bear well with many and soon after the end of the American Civil War, Confederate sympathizer and actor John Wilkes Booth shot the president at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865.

Read: Mike Pence's Black History Month Tweet Honors Abraham Lincoln Instead Of African Americans

The former president’s legacy, however, did not die with his assassination, and continues to inspire millions of people across the world today.

Here are some inspirational quotes from Lincoln, courtesy BrainyQuote, Wikiquote and AZ Quotes, GoodReads and Abraham Lincoln Online:

“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.”

“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”

“Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories.”

“It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest.”

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”

“If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.”

“The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.”

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

“We hope all danger may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be extremely dangerous.”

“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”

“Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government, practically just so much.”

“Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.”

“Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.”

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”

“Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in.”

“Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it.”

“The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both congresses, and courts — not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.”

“In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best, hope of earth.”

“Let your military measures be strong enough to repel the invader and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass and persecute the people.”

“There can be glory in failure and despair in success.”

“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.”

“I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.”