“To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.”
Protest, contained in "Poems of Problems", pp. 154–55 (1914). This quotation is often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln.
Poetry quotes, New Thought Pastels (1913)
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
Sometimes attributed to Lincoln since a 1950 speech of Douglas MacArthur citing him as its author, this is actually from a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Misattributed
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Abraham Lincoln618
16th President of the United States 1809–1865Related quotes
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647–1680) English poet, and peer of the realm
ll. 169-171.
A Satire Against Mankind (1679)
“At a time when many men were cowards, he was a true hero to the West.”
Aristides de Sousa Mendes (1885–1954) Portuguese diplomat
Otto von Habsburg, quoted in The Independent, Sunday 17 October 2010
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“Silence can be either protest or consent, but most times it’s fear.”
Paul Beatty book The Sellout
Source: The Sellout
Henry Steele Commager (1902–1998) American historian
Source: Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954), p. 147
William Shakespeare Julius Caesar
Variant: Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Source: Julius Caesar
“Indian believes they ain't but two sins… bein a coward… and turnin agin yer own kind.”
Forrest Carter (1925–1979) Political speechwriter, politician, novelist, memoirist
Source: The Outlaw Josey Wales
