Lincoln Jems 1

Draining the President’s attention and energy was a virtually endless stream of office seekers. ‘Too many pegs and not enough holes to put them in,’ he observed wryly. When Lincoln got back to Washington from the Gettysburg cemetery dedication he contracted a mild form of smallpox. Where were the office seekers, he quipped? Now he had something he could give everybody!

Lincoln and Ambition 8

'I have no other goal so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed,' said Abraham Lincoln, age 23, in his very first election speech. If they elected him, he would regard it as a favor. If not, 'I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined.'

Lincoln and Ambition 7

'No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.'

- Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln and Ambition 6

'Fellow citizens: I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of the national bank; I am in favor of the internal improvement system and a high protective tariff. These are my sentiments and political principles. If elected I shall be thankful; if not it will all be just the same.'

- Abraham Lincoln [aged 23]

Lincoln and Ambition 5

For Lincoln ambition for a high station in life, as his law partner of nearly 20 years William Herndon put it, was 'a little engine that knew no rest.'

Lincoln and Ambition 4

According to Lincoln’s senior partner at the time, right after he passed the bar exam, Lincoln’s ‘knowledge of the law was very small … but he would get a case and try to know all there was connected to it; and in that way he got to be quite a formidable lawyer.’

Lincoln and Ambition 3

 ‘Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow man, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem’

- Abraham Lincoln