Nearly All Men Can Stand Adversity

Despite being universally attributed to Lincoln, this quote was not said by him — it was said about him. The 19th-century orator Robert G. Ingersoll wrote in an 1883 tribute: "Nothing discloses real character like the use of power... if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never used it, except upon the side of mercy." Quote Investigator found no evidence the words were ever attributed to Lincoln before the early 1930s, decades after Ingersoll used them to praise him.