Do you know the Ten Cannots?
Lawrence W. Reed
“That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.”
There’s a lot of valuable and timeless wisdom in that one sentence! Its author was William J. H. Boetcker, who died at 89 in 1962. Born in Germany, he emigrated to America as a young man, became an ordained Presbyterian minister, and gained a national reputation as a superb public speaker. He also said, famously,
“A man is judged by the company he keeps, and a company is judged by the men it keeps, and the people of democratic nations are judged by the caliber of officers they elect.”
I recently learned of Boetcker and his short essay, “The Ten Cannots,” published in 1916. It was widely circulated while he was alive and is the one thing he is probably best remembered for. Its core principles are well worth taping to your refrigerator. If you’re a politician, get them engraved on both your lectern and your heart. And if you watch tonight’s presidential debate, make a note each time one of them is violated:
What a difference for the better these truths would make if every citizen took them to heart and lived up to them. Think about it.
Lawrence W. (“Larry”) Reed is FEE’s President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty. He previously served as president of FEE from 2008-2019. He chaired FEE’s board of trustees in the 1990s and has been both writing and speaking for FEE since the late 1970s.
