QuoteQuest“... none seemed to think the injury arose from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing.”
Verification
AttributedRecorded by a reliable secondary source; exact wording may differ.
Listed with a citation on Wikiquote. Attribution is source-supported, not independently verified.
Live wording check · 2026-10-24
... none seemed to think the injury arose from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing. Citation: Address to the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society (22 February 1842). Frequently misquoted as "It has long been recognized that the problems with alcohol relate not to the use of a bad thing, but to the abuse of a good thing." Listed on https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln (CC BY-SA)Read evidence
Source
- Title
- Wikiquote: Abraham Lincoln
- Type
- Wikiquote (CC BY-SA) · Secondary source
Cite this source
- Bibliography entry
- Lincoln, Abraham. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Abraham Lincoln. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
- Quotation citation
- Abraham Lincoln (n.d.)
- In-text citation
- (Abraham Lincoln, n.d.)
Incomplete citation — missing: publication date, publisher, page or location. Check citations against your institution's style guide.
Provenance: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln