Tuesday, October 21, 2008

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 men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.



Addendum to this...(Thanks for informing us, Ian!!!):

From an internet source:

William J. H. Boetcker (1873 – 1962) was an American religious leader and influential public speaker.
Born in
Hamburg, Germany, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister soon after his arrival in the United States as a young adult. He quickly gained attention as an eloquent motivational speaker, and is often regarded today as the forerunner of such contemporary "success coaches" as Anthony Robbins
. An outspoken political conservative, Rev. Boetcker is perhaps best remembered for his authorship of a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots. Originally published in 1916, it is often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln. 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, with the attributions juxtaposed. The mistake of crediting Lincoln for having been the source of "The Ten Cannots" has been repeated many times since, most notably by Ronald Reagan in a speech he gave at the 1992 Republican convention in Houston.

There are several minor variants of the pamphlet in circulation, but the most commonly-accepted version appears below:
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

5 comments:

Jen said...

Nicely said. I completely agree.

Sunshine said...

That was perfect!!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic.
Also, completely unrelated: my word verification is "candd" which is code for candies. So now I want candies, but have none in the house (for this very reason). Rats. :)

Ian said...

Those are 7 of Boetcker's Ten Cannots. The other three:

# You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.

# You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.

# You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.

I'm not going to get involved in a discussion about politics, but I think I know what point you're trying to make with the 7 you quoted and I hope you bear in mind the last two I quoted.

Allison Horner said...

Thanks, Ian. I was wondering where those came from.

I am not wanting to get into a politcal debate either. I received those in an email, and thought they were good points.

Those last 3 are great points, too. I wish all of our politicians could find a way for us to spend less!

I like candy, too. :)