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Who really said it

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong

Not Abraham Lincoln — actually William J. H. Boetcker William J. H. Boetcker 1873–1962 · American Presbyterian minister & motivational speaker
Disputed Free to reuse

These are two of the maxims in Rev. William J. H. Boetcker’s leaflet The Ten Cannots (1916). Lincoln scholars find no such wording anywhere in Lincoln’s writings or speeches; the confusion traces to a 1942 leaflet titled “Lincoln on Limitations” ↗ that printed genuine Lincoln quotations on one side and Boetcker’s maxims on the other.

Last verified 8 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong” Misattributed to Abraham Lincoln. Actually from Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, "The Ten Cannots" (1916).

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Abraham Lincoln. Use the credit shown above instead.

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In context

Evoking the world of William J. H. Boetcker — American Presbyterian minister & motivational speaker. Theme: "You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Author
William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962)
Work
The Ten Cannots
First published
1916 (leaflet)
Misattributed to
Abraham Lincoln, from 1942 onward

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer…

The two quoted lines are drawn from Boetcker’s list of ten “you cannot” maxims; wording varies slightly across reprints.

Abraham Lincoln Online: Non-Lincoln "You Cannot" Quotation

How we traced it

Public domain

The maxims were first published in Boetcker’s 1916 leaflet, well before 1931, placing the text in the U.S. public domain. (The attribution to Lincoln is false regardless of copyright status.)

Fact-check

The misattribution

For decades these maxims have circulated under Abraham Lincoln’s name, cited by presidents and pundits alike. They are not his.

Abraham Lincoln Falsely credited

The lines appear in none of Lincoln’s documented speeches, letters, or writings, and scholars note they lack his style. Abraham Lincoln Online lists them among non-Lincoln ‘You Cannot’ quotations ↗, and PolitiFact rates the attribution False ↗. President Ronald Reagan repeated the error at the 1992 Republican convention.

The real author is Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, who published these lines in his 1916 leaflet The Ten Cannots ↗; a 1942 “Lincoln on Limitations” leaflet that placed real Lincoln quotes beside Boetcker’s maxims seeded the confusion.

Context

Why it matters

The “Ten Cannots” became a staple of American political rhetoric precisely because Lincoln’s name gave a set of turn-of-the-century pro-enterprise slogans the weight of the Great Emancipator. In 1942 the Committee for Constitutional Government, a lobby backed by publisher Frank Gannett, distributed hundreds of thousands of a leaflet titled “Lincoln on Limitations” — genuine Lincoln on one face, Boetcker’s maxims on the other — and careless readers merged the two.

The error has since been repeated at the highest levels, most famously by Ronald Reagan at the 1992 Republican National Convention, cementing a misattribution that fact-checkers still correct today.

Lincoln’s name gave a minister’s slogans the authority of the Great Emancipator.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Justice Wisdom Power

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Non-Lincoln "You Cannot" Quotationabrahamlincolnonline.org

Lincoln-scholarship page attributing the Ten Cannots to Boetcker, not Lincoln.
William J. H. Boetckeren.wikipedia.org

Biography with the full Ten Cannots text and the 1942 misattribution story.
The 'Ten Cannots' are not from Abraham Lincolnpolitifact.com

PolitiFact fact-check rating the Lincoln attribution False.
Abraham Lincoln on Prosperitysnopes.com

Snopes fact-check tracing the maxims to Boetcker and the 1942 leaflet.
Quote attributed to William J. H. Boetckergoodreads.com

Quote database correctly crediting the line to Boetcker.

The real author

Who was William J. H. Boetcker?

William J. H. Boetcker

1873–1962 · American Presbyterian minister & motivational speaker

William John Henry Boetcker (1873–1962) was a German-born American Presbyterian minister who became a popular public speaker on industrial relations, thrift, and personal responsibility in the early twentieth century. He is best remembered for a 1916 leaflet of aphorisms usually called The Ten Cannots, a set of pro-enterprise maxims that would later be widely — and wrongly — pinned on Abraham Lincoln.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Boetcker, The Ten Cannots (1916)

William J. H. Boetcker, The Ten Cannots (leaflet, 1916); see “Non-Lincoln ‘You Cannot’ Quotation,” Abraham Lincoln Online.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/you-cannot-help-the-poor-by-destroying-the-rich-you-cannot

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