Historians expose quotes wrongly attributed to Abraham Lincoln

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- When it comes to Abraham Lincoln, some of the people are fooled all of the time.

Remarks attributed to the quotable 16th president have popped up in everything from television commercials to speeches by famous generals, presidents and even recent anti-war protesters. Too often, they are phrases that Lincoln never uttered, experts at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency say.

"It's simply Lincoln's own status as a cultural exemplar that make these spurious quotations seem credible," said Rodney Davis, co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College in Galesburg.

"He seems to provide validation for just about anything anybody wants to have validated, and if you can't find a Lincoln quote, you make one up."

Quotes by a minister, a poet and even an actor portraying Lincoln on an episode of "Star Trek" have been attributed to the president, according to Illinois state historian Thomas Schwartz.

The preservation agency has added a page to its Web site that exposes famous sayings Lincoln never made.