How a Movie Script Made People Believe a Line that was not True

In the movie Pollyanna, David Swift wrote the screenplay.  In it he has a locket with an inscription on it that Pollyanna wears around her neck as a constant reminder of words her father told.  The inscription reads "If you look for the bad in people, expecting to find it, you surely will." Reverend Ford then says, "Abraham Lincoln." Pollyanna did not confirm his answer, she just told the Reverend her father gave her this locket and let him read it. (And why she plays the "Glad Game.")

Now David Swift made that line up for the movie but many people believe Abe Lincoln said it. If you google Lincoln's quotes, there it is.  David Swift admits he made it up but a movie seems to have made it true when it is not.  All these years later no one questions it.  Now it may be a detail that really is not important in the movie because the meaning is a positive one but the point is "if you tell an untruth enough, people will start to believe anything."

Makes thinking for yourself more important.