Quote from Abraham Lincoln:
Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. – Abraham Lincoln in a March 21st 1864 address
Originally I had the quote below as the basis for this post, but upon further examination I realized that it wasn’t an authentic Lincoln quote. Even so, I think the sentiment mirrors the one in the actual Lincoln quote above.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your earn.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
The quote above, called the “The 10 Cannots” was written by William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister and included in a pamphlet titled “Lincoln On Limitations”. From Snopes.com:
These words are often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but according to the book They Never Said it: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions, they are not from Lincoln.
The quotes were published in 1942 by William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister. He released a pamphlet titled Lincoln On Limitations, which did include a Lincoln quote, but also added 10 statements written by Boetcker himself.
Do you think the points that these two quotes make are still valid today? Why or why not?
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I agree with your thoughts on this subject. Even though the words may not be Lincoln’s, there is truth in the words. The purpose of government is not to take care of us or to involuntarily redistribute wealth (taxes). We have moved so far away in this country from those words above.
Hello Nephew, (That’s to make clear to your reader who called me an angry person that I am actually your loving aunt and godmother.)
As a Lincoln fan, I consider this post very misleading. Although you mention that these words are not actually Lincoln’s, your disclaimer hardly compensates for the title and large graphic, implying otherwise.
Lincoln said very little about economics (being busy with more pressing issues) but everything he did say had nothing in common with the philosophy of William J. H. Boetcker. Using Lincoln’s name to falsely support your political agenda is a cheap trick–what’s next, “Jesus says Rush Limbaugh is God’s gift to Mankind (not really, but I agree with the sentiment)”
If you want to promote Reaganomics, try defending trickle down economic policies with facts.
Obviously I wasn’t trying to mislead anyone with this post because I genuinely believed on first examination that the quote was indeed a quote from Lincoln. Many sources have in fact cited it as being a Lincoln quote. I published the post, and then decided to look into it further. I realized that it wasn’t a Lincoln original. At that time I updated my post to include the clarification of who the quote was actually from. I didn’t change the title as I didn’t think it was necessary – I had moved on to other posts. After all, anyone reading the post would see the clarification.
I’m not sure how Rush Limbaugh and Jesus became part of the discussion, or how this turned into a political post? I didn’t mention anything overtly political in the post?
In any event I have now updated the post and included an actual Lincoln quote that closely ties into the theme of the other quote. Sounds like he did have something in common with the philosophy of Boetcker?
No offense meant, but from my outside point-of-view your comments do appear slightly narcissistic & angry. That is not to say that you are, just pointing out how your comments appear.
On a side note, though he may not have “said” very much about money, it is believed that Honest Abe was in deed murdered by British bankers in response to his attempt at cleaning up & dismantling their control over the US banking system during his presidency & before.
These British banks indeed controlled the US economy at that time, whose government was nothing short of bankrupt. Lincoln worked to remove the stranglehold of the British banks, which ended up costing him his life.
Matt Jabss last blog post..Budget Your Money! – DFA Tip of the Week – 3/23/2009
Do you think the points that these two quotes make are still valid today? Why or why not?
Absolutely-the points yes. The intrepretation is left up to the reader. For instance, property IS the fruit of labor. What type of property is determined by the reader. Richness again, is determined by the individual. We can however make the assumption that those that are houseless are houseless because they did not make wise decisions or have labor that afforded them the house of their dreams. However, a house as written is interpreted as a place of shelter.
I believe that we should abide by the cannots as a society AND teach our children that they can have, be and do anything if they work hard enough, long enough and continually learn.
I like all the quotes in the article, no matter who said them. Winston Churchill said (paraphrasing) The problem with captitalism is that the blessing of wealth is not distributed evenly. The problem with socialism is that only poverty is distributed evenly. or something like that . . .
rocketcs last blog post..Will you attend a tax tea party on April 15?