P.T. Barnum supposedly said, "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." Who, however, said, "You can fool too many of the people too much of the time"?
Question #58275. Asked by
lanfranco.
Last updated May 17 2021.
Sorry, barker, but it is not at all clear who said it, which is why I used the word "supposedly." As qualified historians have pointed out, no documentation has ever supported the attribution to Lincoln, and the Barnum attribution is also disputed. My guess is that a journalist came up with it.
But yay, MrsAce! My hometown boy, humorist James Thurber, did publish the second remark, in "The New Yorker" on April 29, 1939.
Spofford, incidentally (mentioned in the first site), would have been Ainsworth Spofford, 6th Librarian of Congress (1864-97), appointed by Lincoln himself. Under him, the LC's collection of Lincolniana grew precipitously. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainsworth_Rand_Spofford
Response last updated by gtho4 on May 17 2021.
Jul 11 2005, 8:22 PM
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