Abraham Lincoln
· You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
· You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
· You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
· You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
· You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
· You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
· You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
It is a duty certainly to give our sparings to those who want; but to see also that they are faithfully distributed, and duly apportioned to the respective wants of those receivers. And why give through agents whom we know not, to persons whom we know not, and in countries from which we get no account, where we can do it at short hand, to objects under our eye, through agents we know, and to supply wants we see? Thomas Jefferson, letter to Michael Megear, May 29, 1823.
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816.
· You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
· You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
· You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
· You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
· You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
· You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence.
· You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
It is a duty certainly to give our sparings to those who want; but to see also that they are faithfully distributed, and duly apportioned to the respective wants of those receivers. And why give through agents whom we know not, to persons whom we know not, and in countries from which we get no account, where we can do it at short hand, to objects under our eye, through agents we know, and to supply wants we see? Thomas Jefferson, letter to Michael Megear, May 29, 1823.
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816.
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