Quotes from Lincoln

Gore Vidal ·  672 pages

Rating: (7.4K votes)


“Seward appreciated the honest and open way that Stanton lied; it was the hallmark of the truly great lawyer, and demonstrated a professional mastery not unlike his own.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln


“I realize,” said Sumner, “that the press is hardly reliable.” Lincoln turned from the window; suddenly, he grinned. “Oh, yes, they are. They lie. And then they re-lie. So they are nothing if not re-lie-able.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln


“In politics, as in love, opposites attract, and the misunderstandings that ensue tend to be as bitter and, as in love, as equally terminal.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln


“Now you may not know this”—Lincoln shut his eyes—“but when I first ran for the Illinois legislature, I came out, more or less, for female suffrage; not exactly the most popular position to take back then, and in that part of the world.” “It is still not the most popular issue anywhere in the world, thank God.” “Well, Mrs. Frémont comes to see me late at night—right off the cars from the West—and threatens me to my face with an uprising against the government, led by the Frémonts and their radical friends. So I called her, in the nicest way, I thought, ‘Quite a lady politician,’ and she was madder than a wet hen and went and told everyone that I’d threatened her!” Lincoln sighed. “Is it possible that female suffrage may not be the answer to every human problem?”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln


“helped the boy-governor eat the remains of the fruit, they discussed how it was that newspapers sometimes knew all sorts of secrets that they ought not to have known—and certainly ought not to publish, when the rest of the time they had no interest in facts at all. “Whatever sounds as if it might suit the prejudices of the reader, that is what will be published,” said Chase.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln



“It is my task always to know, particularly when I don’t.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln


“You know what Mr. Bates called me?” Seward shook his head with wonder. “An unprincipled liar. And here I am one of the most heavily principled men in politics.” Lincoln chuckled. In every way, making allowances for regional differences, Seward’s humor was not unlike his own. “And since you’re a smart man, Governor, you never actually lie. Smart men never have to.”
― Gore Vidal, quote from Lincoln


About the author

Gore Vidal
Born place: in West Point, New York, The United States
Born date October 3, 1925
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Minutes — that's all it takes to change your entire life. How do you deal with that? Not”
― Michele G. Miller, quote from From the Wreckage


“He heard a woman call out for her children in the flat accent that said States to him, East Coast, North. And seemed so out of place here. Did his voice have that same slightly-out-of-tune sound to it? Here voices should lilt and flow and have old music under each word.”
― Nora Roberts, quote from Irish trilogy collection


“Arabic is a subtle and sinuous language. Like all Semitic languages, it plays on words, taking a three-consonant root and building on it to create what sometimes seems an infinite number of meanings. Even the exact same word can have different connotations, depending on the context. Perhaps the best-known example is jihad, struggle, which can be either the inner striving to live the Islamic life and attain a higher level of spiritual consciousness, or the external armed confrontation with those seen as enemies of Islam.”
― Lesley Hazleton, quote from After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split


“How did one rationalize belief with no proof? How could they honestly expect him to have faith in something that taught of miracles and wonders in the far past, but carefully gave excuses for why such things didn’t occur in the present day?”
― Brandon Sanderson, quote from Mistborn Trilogy: The Hero Of Ages, The Well Of Ascension And The Final Empire


“trust is kind of like a piece of paper. Once you wad it up, tear it, mark it . . . sure you can fix it, flatten it out, tape it together, do what-the-fuck-ever to it, but it will never be perfect again. . . . So the question you need to ask yourself is can you live with the marks on the paper? Can you move forward knowing it’s imperfect from here on out?”
― K. Bromberg, quote from Sweet Ache


Interesting books

Azincourt
(19.1K)
Azincourt
by Bernard Cornwell
The Castle of Llyr
(30K)
The Castle of Llyr
by Lloyd Alexander
Vita Nuova
(4.1K)
Vita Nuova
by Dante Alighieri
The Recognitions
(4K)
The Recognitions
by William Gaddis
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
(18.6K)
Old Possum's Book of...
by T.S. Eliot
Murphy
(4K)
Murphy
by Samuel Beckett

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.