Selected Speeches and Writings Quotes

“These [the armed forces] are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where.... Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.”
― Abraham Lincoln, Selected Speeches and Writings

“Towering genius distains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. -- It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction”
― Abraham Lincoln, Selected Speeches and Writings

“Is it unreasonable then to expect, that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time, spring up among us?”
― Abraham Lincoln, Selected Speeches and Writings

“What! think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon?--Never!”
― Abraham Lincoln, Selected Speeches and Writings