Unfounded Quotes Attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

BOOKS, MEDIA, AND THE INTERNET ARE FULL OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S QUOTES THAT HE NEVER SAID. THE QUOTES BELOW ARE VERIFIED AS FALSE QUOTE.

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LINCOLN DID NOT SAY OR WRITE:

"A nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure."

"A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade."

"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men."

"The strength of a nation lies in the homes of its people."

"No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child."

"No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens."

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have."

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."

"Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived."

"All that loves labor serves the nation. All that harms labor is treason to America."

"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged."

"If I knew that I had eight hours to chop a tree down, I would spend the first six sharpening my ax."

"God must love the common man, he made so many of them."

"I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be."

"In the end, it is not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years."

"I will prepare and some day my chance will come."

"A friend is someone who has the same enemies you have."

"Good things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."

"I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being."

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

"I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it."

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him."

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee."

"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." This quote was first attributed to Lincoln in 1914—50 years after his death—as part of a column in the Syracuse Herald written by Dr. Frank Crane about New Year's resolutions. Following that instance, it appeared in many other publications attributed to President Lincoln, but no evidence exists to suggest those attributions are correct. 

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

"The philosophy taught in the classroom in this generation will become the philosophy of the government in the next generation."

"When I have nowhere else to go, I fall upon my knees."

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

"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."

"Those who look for the bad in people will surely find it."

"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them friends?" Or, "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."

"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses." There is no evidence that Abraham Lincoln wrote or spoke this quotation. Lincoln did mention roses and thorns when in 1850 he delivered a eulogy for Zachary Taylor who was the twelfth President of the United States. Here is an excerpt: "The Presidency, even to the most experienced politicians, is no bed of roses; and Gen. Taylor like others, found thorns within it."

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Lincoln is often credited with this saying. Lincoln allegedly said it in a speech in Clinton, Illinois, on September 2, 1858. In 1905 two newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Brooklyn Eagle gathered testimony to see if Lincoln really said it. The evidence was conflicting and dubious in some particulars. No contemporary accounts of this quote from the Clinton Illinois speech contain this utterance. However, tradition still attributes it to Lincoln, and it has remained a favorite in popular usage.

Abraham Lincoln Didn't Say the Famous 10 Cannots. So Who Did?

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Alexander Gardner's Finest 1863 Photograph of President Lincoln.

In mid-summer of 1863, both President Lincoln’s and the Union’s future were looking up. The twin victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July had dealt a serve blow to the Confederate war effort. Much of the initial opposition in the North to his early politics was beginning to melt away, and even his most ardent opponents were forced to admit that Lincoln was honest, patriotic, and moving the country forward. To escape the heat that summer, Mary Lincoln along with their children Robert and Tad decided to head north to the White Mountains of Vermont for an extended holiday. 

“Alone” in the White House, the President decided on Sunday, August 9th to pay a visit to the famed Civil War photographer Alexander Gardner, whose studio was located at the corner of 7th and D streets. Earlier that year Mr. Gardner had left the employ of Matthew Brady, who was considered one of the premier photographers in the country, to open his own photography studio. 

Signed carte-de-visite of Lincoln, as photographed by Alexander Gardner in 1863.

The President, accompanied by his assistant secretary John Hay, would pose that day for what has become one of the more iconic images associated with Mr. Lincoln’s Presidency. The photo shows the President seated in a three-quarter profile, his left arm resting on a table and holding a copy of the Washington Morning Chronicle, while his right hand, holding his spectacles, rests upon his leg. The President’s slight smile and a distant look in his eyes make it seems as though he is focusing upon some unseen goal. The clarity of Gardner’s image is so remarkable that a housefly that had landed on the President’s trousers is clearly visible. The image is attached to a gilt-ruled mount, and was boldly signed by the President beneath the image with his trademark “A. Lincoln.” 

“Four Score and Seven” Magazine Article
Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.