Wednesday, October 8, 2008

wise words

During this election year let's be reminded of these 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 people's initiative and independence.
* You cannot help people permanently, by doing for them what they could and should, do for themselves.

Do you recognize the author?
It was Abraham Lincoln
(correction from couple of my Readers, These wise words are by William J. H. Boetcker)

Very, very wise words, written years ago and we still don't get it.....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Derek -- I love this quote you provided today. I'm a librarian and I'd be remiss if I didn't let you know the author is not Lincoln, but William J. H. Boetcker. Still old advice (1916), still sage advice that we should heed in this day and age. Cheers~ mck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._H._Boetcker

Anonymous said...

I found in a couple of different places that say "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." They are still great statements, whoever said them.