Abraham Lincoln Quotes About Duty

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

  Abraham Lincoln

  Sin, Silent, Duty

• And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God ... and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Bible, God, Religious

  Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.1148, Jazzybee Verlag

• If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do that. I have here stated my purpose according to my official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men, everywhere, could be free.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Men, Leaving, Civil War

  Letter to Horace Greeley, 22 August 1862

• Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction ... nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Dungeons, Have Faith, Might

  Address at Cooper Institute, New York, N.Y., 27 Feb. 1860

• Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Life, Faith, Freedom

  Address at Cooper Institute, New York, N.Y., 27 Feb. 1860

• I shall not do more than I can, and I shall do all I can to save the government, which is my sworn duty as well as my personal inclination. I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Perseverance, Government, Duty

  Ulysses S. Grant, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Stephen Crane, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Modern Library Civil War Bookshelf 5-Book Bundle: Personal Memoirs, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Red Badge of Courage, Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings, The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln”, p.2761, Modern Library

• I hope it will not be irreverent in me to say, that if it be probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me

  Abraham Lincoln

  Might, Belief, Duty

  Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.361, Library of America

• The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Strive, Duty, Obligation

• If there is anything which it is the duty of the whole people to never entrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity of their own liberties and institutions.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Hands, People, Liberty

  Address on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise, delivered 16 October 1854, Peoria, Illinois

• I hold it to be a paramount duty of us in the free states, due to the Union of the states, and perhaps to liberty itself (paradox though it may seem) to let the slavery of the other states alone; while, on the other hand, I hold it to be equally clear, that we should never knowingly lend ourselves directly or indirectly, to prevent that slavery from dying a natural death--to find new places for it to live in, when it can no longer exist in the old.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Hands, Dying, Liberty

  "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1" by Abraham Lincoln, New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1953.

• I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that 'while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.' If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Mean, Years, People

  Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.661, Library of America

• At the beginning of the war, and for some time, the use of colored troops was not contemplated; and how the change of purpose was wrought, I will not now take time to explain. Upon a clear conviction of duty I resolved to turn that element of strength to account; and I am responsible for it to the American people, to the christian world, to history, and on my final account to God.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Christian, Religious, War

  Abraham Lincoln (2011). “Lincoln on War”, p.242, Algonquin Books

• The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Power, Government, Used

  Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.867, Jazzybee Verlag

• ...I do not mean to say that this general government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world; but I do think that it is charged with the duty of preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Mean, Thinking, Government

  Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.743, Jazzybee Verlag

• In using the strong hand, as now compelled to do, the government has a difficult duty to perform. At the very best, it will by turns do both too little and too much. It can properly have no motive of revenge, no purpose to punish merely for punishment's sake. While we must, by all available means, prevent the overthrow of the government, we should avoid planting and cultivating too many thorns in the bosom of society.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Strong, Revenge, Mean

  Abraham Lincoln (1922). “Abraham Lincoln; Complete Works, Comprising His Speeches, Letters, State Papers, and Miscellaneous Writings”

• I hold that while a man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Men, Duty, Mankind

  Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.202, Wildside Press LLC

• When the hour comes for dealing with slavery, I trust I will be willing to do my duty though it cost my life.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Cost, Slavery, Hours

  Abraham Lincoln (2001). “Lincoln's Words: Sentiments from the 16th President of the United States”

• No duty is more imperative for the government than the duty it ;owes the people to furnish them with a sound and uniform currency, an of regulating the circulation of the medium of exchange so that labor will be protected from a vicious currency [private bank-created, interest-bearing debt], and commerce will be facilitated by cheap and safe exchanges.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Government, People, Sound

• I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. ... I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is probable that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me... These are not, however, the days of miracles ... I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is possible, and learn what appears to be wise and right.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Wise, Religious, Men

  Reply to an Emancipation Memorial (1862), published in "The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln" edited by Henry Jarvis Raymond and Francis Bicknell Carpenter, (p. 255), 1865.

• [If not re-elected in 1864] then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.

  Abraham Lincoln

  President, Unions, Election

  Abraham Lincoln (2002). “Conversations With Lincoln”, p.359, Transaction Publishers

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