Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The s... - Abraham Lincoln

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

Abraham Lincoln

President, Politician American 1809–1865

More from Abraham Lincoln

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

"I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."

"My early history is perfectly characterized by a single line of Gray's Elegy: 'The short and simple annals of the poor.'"