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Re: Lincoln quote---
In Response To: Re: Lincoln quote--- ()

Dennis, there is another famous quote whose source is as ephemeral as Lincoln's. "For evil to triumph, it is only necessary that good men do nothing." It is attributed to Edmund Burke, an English philosopher favorable to our revolution. (The first one.) So much so that a cite is seldom given, as everyone is so familiar with it. The problem is, there is no evidence that Burke ever said it. If you Google the quote, many sites come up. The first is a quite extensive study of the quote in its various forms: http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html

The second is an essay by the same author: http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html

The point is that a "quote" can so fit a situation, or be so commonly used and accepted, that it works its way into the lexicon without proper citation. Stan

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