User:Crotalus horridus/False Abraham Lincoln quotations

Ten false Abraham Lincoln quotations have been derived from material written by Reverend William John Henry Boetcker. These quotations attribute Social Darwinist views to Lincoln, though there is no evidence he ever held any such positions.

Boetcker
William John Henry Boetcker has been described as an "obscure German-born, Brooklyn-ordained minister." He was born in 1873, and immigrated to the United States in 1891. Ordained in 1897, Boetcker moved to Toledo in 1903 and became director of the anti-worker Citizens' Industrial Alliance.

1916 quotations
In 1916, Boetcker published a booklet consisting of extracts from his previous lectures. This booklet consisted of ten "maxims" that would later falsely be attributed to Abraham Lincoln. The maxims were as follows:
 * 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.
 * You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.