You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but Lincoln probably never said so
You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.
Lincoln never said that according to Thomas F. Schwartz, Ph.D., writing in an article on the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency webpage.
See also: Bartleby.com, and this CNN article. Allegedly part of a September 1858 speech in Clinton, the sentence does not show up in the text printed in the local newspaper, Schwartz said. The best evidence available comes from two people in 1910 recollecting that Lincoln said it in 1856. Is the epigram any less true if not uttered by Honest Abe? Maybe, maybe not, but "...there is such a thing as intellectual or scholarly honesty." Since I have often used the "quote" in question, I hope this post will help put the statement into its proper context: a worthwhile observation, perhaps, but probably not one uttered by Abraham Lincoln. S