Quotations and Literature Forum

etc etc etc ...

I was thinking a politician or something ... help me out if you can.

Thanks...

This variation is attributed at quoteland.com to Abraham Lincoln.

"You can fool some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

It may be apochryphal. Supposedly Lincoln said this in a speech in 1858 in Clinton, Ill. However, it is not found in any of his works, speeches or in any newspaper reports of the time. It is attributed to people who think they heard it from him. Lincoln scholars dismiss it.

Source: Ralph Keyes, Nice Guys Finish Seventh, p. 95-96.

Holy Mother of God! This is an outrage!
I see something that needs fixing right now! Quoteland actually has it wrong!
The first line of this quip (IMHO, this is actually one of the more grand examples of what is referred to as a chiasmus http://www.chiasmus.com/ , but I could be wrong on that conclusion) should go:

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
~Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Remark attributed to Lincoln
http://www.bartleby.com/100/448.16.html

CHILL TN! It's still a good quote!

Oh, I was just horsing around. I mean, how often do you get a chance to say "Holy Mother of God" and "this is an outrage" back to back? I couldn't resist.
In fact, truth be known, I came back just now to edit out those remarks, but I guess they are "written in stone" now.
And yes, regardless of how it is stated, it is a great quote.

You're too funny, thenostromo -- I caught the humor. I kept looking at that quotation when I pasted it from quoteland thinking to myself "It's got to be some of the people all of the time . . . " Glad you were there to save the day, oh Master Web Searcher.

What is IMHO?

IMHO is chat/BBS/shorthand/etc/blahblahblah for
In My Humble Opinion

I added this one (as Lincoln, attributed) to my collection.

This is definitely a good example of chiasmus. Dr. Mardy Grothe's book on Chiastic quotes includes another variation of it (page 51):
Here's a related one and very apropos to this thread:

_________________
Michael Moncur
Owner and maintainer, The Quotations Page

There's a sucker born every minute . . .

This way to the egress...

_________________
Regards,
Lou
I feel like a fugitive from th' law of averages.
— Bill Mauldin

also....bob marley used a variation:

"you can fool some people sometimes
but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"

in his song "stand up for your right."

I hate to dispute this but I believe it was P.T. Barnum who
said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time
and all the people some of the time but you can't fool
all the people all the time."

The key word here should be "attributed."
But you are right, it's all over the place attributed to Barnum, but most citings qualify it:

According to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, [this] is "also attributed to Phineas Barnum."
From Lincoln's Yarns and Stories (1904) by Alexander K. McLure:
If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizons, you can never regain their respect and esteem. 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.
http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/fou ... p?Num=1867

"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."
~Abraham Lincoln, (also attributed to Phineas Barnum)
http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/quotes17.html

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
~ Phineas T. Barnum, often attributed to Lincoln but denied by Spofford
http://www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/quotes ... itx001.htm
http://www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/quotes ... stx001.htm

Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people all the time, and you can fool all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time." Although P. T. Barnum probably said it best,
"There's a sucker born every minute." A more recent wag modified the sentence to read, "There's a sucker born every minute -- and two to take him."
http://www.well.com/conf/scams/