Magnifying glass on a low brass stand above a long white feather

Original artwork, not a still

Abraham Lincoln

You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Deception has limits. A trickster can mislead everyone briefly, or mislead some people permanently, but cannot keep the whole population fooled forever. The saying carries a confident faith that, given enough time and enough observers, falsehood tends to be noticed and exposed.

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