Thanks to my friend Joe Scarlett for sending the following:
During this political season let’s be reminded of these wise words:
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
Who said it? Abraham Lincoln
Hi Mark,
I’m afraid the words above are not Lincoln’s. Here is a quotation from
“Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.” accessed at http://www.bartleby.com/73/1117.html:
“ATTRIBUTION: Erroneously attributed to ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Since the 1940s these “Ten Points” attributed to Lincoln have been widely reprinted. They have appeared in such places as magazines, Christmas cards, and the Congressional Record. The Library of Congress and Lincoln scholars believe that any connection made between Lincoln and the “Ten Points” is spurious.”
The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency attributes these ten points to another in their page at http://www.illinoishistory.gov/facsimiles.htm:
6. The “Ten Points” appear every February 12 in newspaper ads honoring Abraham Lincoln. In fact, these aphorisms are from the pen of Reverend William John Henry Boetcker (1873-1962).
* You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
* You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
* You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
* You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
* You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer.
* You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
* You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
* You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
* You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.
* You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
The page cited above contains other quotes attributed to Lincoln but not said by him.
This political season it will be important to follow President Reagan’s advice of “Trust but verify” when you get factual claims or quotes from either side of the political spectrum.
My “accuracy sensor” was pinging when I posted; I should have paid closer attention. I’m a stickler for accuracy and have learned the hard way that much of what comes from the web is too good to be true. In this case I did a quick verify of the words with Google and got a large number of posts confirming that these were Lincoln’s words. Unfortunately large numbers of sources are in error. Thanks for the background and how the quote has mistakenly been attributed to Lincoln.
I must say that regardless of the source, I still agree with the ideas expressed.
Mark, These are great points regardless of who first uttered them.
Like many others I’m sure, I long to have political candidates of the stature of Lincoln or Reagan. They were leaders who were not afraid to do the right thing. Thanks for the reminder. -Michael