Ask Jen: Foolish Edition

Cam writes: "I've heard the quote about not [fooling] all the people all the time attributed to Abe Lincoln and PT Barnum. Which is it?"

The full quote is "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."

Unfortunately, there is no documentary proof linking the quote to either man, but it is most often attributed to Lincoln, who supposedly said it during his Senate campaign against Stephen Douglas. The problem is, the quote was attributed well after the fact and can not be found in newspaper coverage from the time.

Do you have a question for me? You can e-mail it. If I know the answer, I'll answer it. If I don't, I might make something up.

Posted by Jennifer at August 26, 2009 05:52 AM | TrackBack

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