ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S THE TEN CANNOTS
REV. WILLIAM J. H. BOETCKER’s THE TEN CANNOTS
1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
3. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
4. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
5. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
6. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
7. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
9. You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.
The “Ten Cannots” was initially published in 1916, by an immigrant from Hamburg, Germany, William John Henry Boetcker (1873-1962). Many misattributed it to ABRAHAM LINCOLN as “Lincoln’s Ten Cannots.”
The error apparently stems from a leaflet printed in 1942 by a conservative political organization called the Committee for Constitutional Government. The leaflet bore the title “Lincoln on Limitations” and contained some genuine Lincoln quotations on one side and the “Ten Cannots” on the other.
