The worst things you can do for the ones you love are the things they could and should do for themselves” — and

Lincoln himself once said, “The worst things you can do for those you love are the things they could and should do for themselves.” He fiercely believed in self-sufficiency, and in the maturity and character that struggles and hardships can bring.

Why can’t we realize that it only weakens those we want to help when we do things for them that they should do for themselves?

The worst thing: to give yourself away in exchange for not enough love.

Never do anything for anyone who can just as well do it themself

Of all the ways we have found to hurt ourselves, the worse has been through love. We are always suffering because of someone who doesn't love us, or someone who has left us, or someone who won't leave us. If we are alone, it is because no one wants us...

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.

The worst thing you can do if you miss or need someone is let them know it.

And maybe in the end, the kindest possible thing you could do for yourself is to know that there is nothing that holds us back more than the important words that went unspoken, the deep instincts that went unfelt, the callings that went unanswered. Your life is reaching toward you, and maybe the kindest possible thing you could do is reach back.

The worst thing a nation can do to itself is to cultivate and maintain a supply of cheap labor. When salaries are kept down, money stops circulating, taxes bring in diminished funds, and everybody loses.

The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized - never knowing.

Nothing is more damaging to you than to do something that you believe is wrong.

If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person.