Authors / Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln quotes

1809–1865 · 16th President of the United States

Lincoln's speeches are among the best-documented words of the 19th century, which makes the fakes easy to spot. If a "Lincoln quote" sounds like a business seminar, check twice.

3 real · 3 not theirs

Really theirs

3 quotes traced to Abraham Lincoln's own work or a reliable witness.

Sourced
A house divided against itself cannot stand.

He was quoting the Gospels (Mark 3:25).

Source: Speech at Springfield, Illinois (16 June 1858)
Sourced
…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Source: Gettysburg Address (19 November 1863)
Sourced
With malice toward none, with charity for all…
Source: Second Inaugural Address (4 March 1865)

Not theirs

3 famous lines credited to Abraham Lincoln that are misquoted, unsourced or belong to someone else.

No source found
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

The trail: Credited to Lincoln since about 1885, twenty years after his death, with no contemporary record.

Not theirs
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Actually: No contemporary evidence; early versions credit an anonymous woodsman.

Not theirs
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Actually: Robert G. Ingersoll writing about Lincoln in 1883 — a compliment, later turned into a quote.