“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Traced to The Gettysburg Address (1863).
More from Abraham Lincoln
“The way for a young man to rise, is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.”
Abraham Lincoln
Letter to William H. Herndon · 1848
verified“Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.”
Abraham Lincoln
Speech at Peoria, Illinois · 1854
verified“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.”
Abraham Lincoln
Letter to Isham Reavis · 1855
verified“The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.”
Abraham Lincoln
Letter to Joseph Gillespie · 1849
verified“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
Abraham Lincoln
Speech in the United States House of Representatives · 1848
verified“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”
Abraham Lincoln
Fragment on Democracy · 1858
verifiedMore Leadership quotes
“Let the nation try justice and the problem will be solved.”
Frederick Douglass
Lessons of the Hour · 1894
verified“What I ask for the negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.”
Frederick Douglass
What the Black Man Wants · 1865
verified“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
I Have a Dream · 1963
verified“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.”
Nelson Mandela
Speech for the 'Make Poverty History' campaign · 2005
verified“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
Nelson Mandela
Long Walk to Freedom · 1995
verified“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Nelson Mandela
I Am Prepared to Die (statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial) · 1964
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