Abraham Lincoln’s Words of Wisdom on Leadership

The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Abraham Lincoln

I walk slowly, but I never walk backward. – Abraham Lincoln

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Abraham Lincoln

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. – Abraham Lincoln

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. – Abraham Lincoln

Whatever you are, be a good 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. – Abraham Lincoln

The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. – Abraham Lincoln

The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships. – Abraham Lincoln

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. – Abraham Lincoln

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. – Abraham Lincoln

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition. – Abraham Lincoln

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. – Abraham Lincoln

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. – Abraham Lincoln

Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it. – Abraham Lincoln

You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. – Abraham Lincoln

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. – Abraham Lincoln

Every person’s happiness is their own responsibility. – Abraham Lincoln

The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. – Abraham Lincoln

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. – Abraham Lincoln

The best leaders are those most interested in the welfare of others. – Abraham Lincoln

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends. – Abraham Lincoln

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. – Abraham Lincoln

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. – Abraham Lincoln

I can make more generals, but horses cost money. – Abraham Lincoln

Sir, 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

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? – Abraham Lincoln

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. – Abraham Lincoln

With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. – Abraham Lincoln

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. – Abraham Lincoln

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. – Abraham Lincoln

The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. – Abraham Lincoln

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. – Abraham Lincoln

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. – Abraham Lincoln

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. – Abraham Lincoln

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. – Abraham Lincoln

The ballot is stronger than the bullet. – Abraham Lincoln

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. – Abraham Lincoln

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. – Abraham Lincoln

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. – Abraham Lincoln

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses. – Abraham Lincoln

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot. – Abraham Lincoln

You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, have anything you desire, accomplish anything you set out to accomplish – =if you will hold to that desire with singleness of purpose. – Abraham Lincoln

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother. – Abraham Lincoln

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – Abraham Lincoln

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

You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry. – Abraham Lincoln

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. – Abraham Lincoln

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me. – Abraham Lincoln

You cannot fail unless you quit. – Abraham Lincoln