Abraham Lincoln Quotes
From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.
Lincoln, Abraham. "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois." 27 Jan. 1838. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, vol. 1, Rutgers University Press, 1953, p. 109.
This is likely the source of the paraphrased “quote” attributed to Lincoln: America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. See related quote.
Although often cited, Lincoln did not say this although it is somewhat in the spirit of his actual statement. See the related quote for what Lincoln actually said.
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.
