WIST Quotations

Adams, Franklin P. -- Nods and Becks (1944)

Dave — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:55:13 +0000

The trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who believe, with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all of the people all of the time.

Franklin Pierce Adams (1881-1960) American journalist and humorist ["F. P. A."]
Nods and Becks (1944)

See Lincoln.

Lewin, Ronald -- Ultra Goes to War, ch. 10 (1978)

Dave — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:58:38 +0000

Nearly always, the best deception trades on the enemy’s own preconceptions. If he already believes what you want him to believe, you have merely to confirm his own ideas rather than to undertake the more difficult task of inserting new ones into his mind.

Ronald Lewin (1914-1984) British military historian, radio producer publishing editor
Ultra Goes to War, ch. 10 (1978)

Sun-Tzu -- The Art of War, “Estimates” (18) [tr. Griffith (1963)]

Dave — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 12:12:26 +0000

When capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity.

Sun-Tzu (fl. 6th C. AD) Chinese general and philosopher [a.k.a. Sun Wu]
The Art of War, “Estimates” (18) [tr. Griffith (1963)]

Lincoln, Abraham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:55:26 +0000

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 (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Attributed)

A possible precursor to this quote is the widely-republished Jacques Abbadie, "Treatise on the Truth of the Christian Religion [Traité de la Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne]," ch. 2 (1684):

… ont pû tromper quelques hommes, ou les tromper tous dans certains lieux & en certains tems, mais non pas tous les hommes, dans tous les lieux & dans tous les siécles.

[One can fool some men, or fool all men in some places and times, but one cannot fool all men in all places and ages.]

A similar passage was used in Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, ed., Encyclopédie: ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, Vol. 4 (1754).

An early English version came from a speech by William J. Groo to a convention of Prohibitionists; the newspaper recording of it does not include any attribution by Groo to anyone else:

You can fool all the people part of the time, or you can fool some people all the time, but you cannot fool all people all the time.

First attributed to Lincoln by Fred F. Wheeler, interviewed in the Albany Times (1886-03-08): "You can fool part of the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time."

First cited in detail in Alexander K. McClure, “Abe” Lincoln’s Yarns and Stories, (1904), in the above form; it was cited as a Lincoln speech in Clinton, Ill. (1858-09-02), but the passage is not found in any surviving Lincoln documents. No Lincoln reference is found in contemporary writings.

Also attributed to P.T. Barnum and Bob Dylan. See also Lawrence J. Peter.

More detailed discussion of the quotation and its origins can be found here: