The subtle art of a soul-crushing put-down, courtesy of Abraham Lincoln.

>[Abraham Lincoln](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Abraham_Lincoln_O-77_matte_collodion_print.jpg) was at the time [**1858**] debating [Stephen Douglas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Stephen_A_Douglas_-_headshot.jpg) in a campaign for a seat in the United States Senate. Lincoln called Douglas’s argument “as thin as the homeopathic soup that is made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had been starved to death.” _________________________________ **Source:** Humes, James C. *Speaker's Treasury of Anecdotes About the Famous*. New York: Harper & Row, 1978. 32. Print. _________________________________ **Further Reading:** [Abraham Lincoln](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln) [Stephen Arnold Douglas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Douglas)