Quote Investigator® – Page 116

Quote Origin: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Clare Boothe Luce? Oscar Wilde? Walter Map? Marie Belloc Lowndes? James Agate? Leo Pavia? Walter Winchell? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: For centuries moral philosophers have propounded a conventional viewpoint about the rewards and punishments delivered by a deity. Here is an example from the “Summa Theologica” by Saint Thomas Aquinas who lived during the 13th century:¹

For as punishment is to the evil act, so is reward to a good act. Now no evil deed is unpunished, by God the just judge. Therefore no good deed is unrewarded, and so every good deed merits some good.

A comically acerbic statement transforms this perspective. Here are two versions:

Every good deed brings its own punishment.
No good deed goes unpunished.

These words are often attributed to playwright and diplomat Clare Boothe Luce and to the famous wit Oscar Wilde. Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Clare Boothe Luce did receive credit for the saying by 1949, but the attribution was weak because the phrase had been circulating for multiple years before that date. Also, the saying was implausibly assigned in 1972 to Oscar Wilde who had died in 1900. Details are given further below.

Courtier Walter Map wrote “De Nugis Curialium” (“Courtiers’ Trifles”) in the 12th century. The Medieval Latin text was translated into English and published by an Oxford University scholar in 1923. Map described the actions of Eudo who was a rapacious adherent of an inverted morality. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:²

He put the worst of men to command the bad, he gave additional authority and power to those who were wickedest in their attacks on the innocent, and promoted over all others those to whom pity was unknown. He spared none of his band who inclined to spare any, left no good deed unpunished, no bad one unrewarded; and when he could find no rival and no rebel on earth, like Capaneus, he challenged opposition from heaven. He spoiled churchyards, violated churches, and desisted not either for fear of the living or respect for the dead…

The passage above contained a match for the saying under examination, but it was not really in proverbial form. It was a remark about one person or about a class of wicked people instead of a general adage.

In August 1927 the prominent author Marie Belloc Lowndes published a short story in “The Windsor Magazine” titled “A Breaker of Hearts” which included an interesting precursor statement. Lowndes referred to “kindness” which is one type of “good deed”:³

“Are you doing a wise thing, Laura? It’s dangerous work, you know, bringing about a marriage between middle-aged people. The couple don’t always thank you afterwards.”

“Kindness,” said the Duchess thoughtfully, “often brings its own punishment. But I don’t think it will in this case!”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: If Something Cannot Go On Forever It Will Stop

Herbert Stein? Paul Krugman? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Economic trends are sometimes unsettling. For example, political commentators in countries that develop large foreign trade deficits often complain that the situation is untenable. A prominent economist responded to this fretting with a tautology. Here are four versions:

If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.
If it can’t go on forever it will stop.
If something can’t go on forever, it won’t.
Things that can’t go on forever, don’t.

Would you please help me to identify the creator of this saying together with a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In May 1985 economist Herbert Stein wrote a column in “The Wall Street Journal” in which he discussed the shift in the U.S. balance between foreign debts and foreign assets. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

What economists know seems to consist entirely of a list of things that cannot go on forever, and this may be one of them. But if it can’t go on forever it will stop. And if we never do anything that we can’t go on doing forever we will never do very much.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Without Magic, There Is No Art. Without Art, There Is No Idealism

Raymond Chandler? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Raymond Chandler wrote influential detective novels such as “The Big Sleep” and “The Long Goodbye”. He moved to Hollywood and co-wrote the screenplay for the film noir classic “Double Indemnity”, but Chandler grew to dislike the heavy hand of producers, directors, and censorship boards on the writing process. He wrote:

Without magic, there is no art. Without art, there is no idealism.

Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Raymond Chandler wrote an essay about his disenchantment with Hollywood for the “The Screen Writer” published by the Screen Writers’ Guild, but he withdrew the piece when the editor of the journal changed. Chandler died in 1959, and the essay appeared posthumously in “The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler” under the title “A Qualified Farewell” in 1976. He wanted to create artistically worthy scripts, but interference from many sources made it difficult:¹

Without magic, there is no art. Without art, there is no idealism. Without idealism, there is no integrity. Without integrity, there is nothing but production, and in the end not even that . . .

This article finishes with one more citation and a conclusion.

Quote Origin: I Never Argue with a Man Who Buys Ink by the Barrel

Roger Branigin? Mark Twain? Charles Brownson? Irving Leibowitz? William I. Greener Jr.? H. L. Mencken? Benjamin Franklin?

Question for Quote Investigator: If a newspaper editor or publisher dislikes a viewpoint you are advocating then you may have to endure a long series of negative articles. The following three statements express this notion:

Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel
I never quarrel with a man who buys ink by the barrel.
Never pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.

Many famous wordsmiths have been credited with this saying, e.g., Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, and H. L. Mencken. I become very suspicious when so many luminaries receive credit. What do you think?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest citation located by QI appeared in “The Indianapolis News” of Indiana in 1962. Attorney Roger Branigin delivered a speech to more than 600 listeners at a conference. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

Branigin, active for years in Democratic politics and an aspirant for the nomination for governor in 1955, said in referring to newspaper publishers, “I never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel.”

Branigin’s policy of avoiding arguments with news people may have helped him. He became the governor of Indiana a few years later in 1965, and he served for one four-year term. Currently, Branigin is the leading candidate for creator of this saying although there is evidence that others used it in roughly the same timeframe.

Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, and H. L. Mencken had all died before 1962; there is no substantive evidence that they employed the saying.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Life Is a Shipwreck, But We Must Not Forget To Sing in the Lifeboats

Voltaire? Peter Gay? William F. Bottiglia? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Many dubious quotations have been ascribed to the preeminent French satirist and philosopher Voltaire. One popular saying depicts life as a metaphorical shipwreck. The survivors are exhorted to sing while sitting in the lifeboats. Is this saccharine guidance really from the acrid pen of Voltaire?

I have also seen the words credited to a fictional character named Bottiglia. Does that ascription make sense?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Voltaire did employ the shipwreck metaphor in his letters; for example, in 1760 he wrote:¹

Comptez que le monde est un grand naufrage, et que la devise des hommes est, sauve qui peut.

Here is one possible translation:²

The world, my friend, is one great shipwreck: and man’s motto, “Save yourself if you can.”

Voltaire’s remark did not mention lifeboats or singing; thus, his tone was quite different.

The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in 1963 within the introductory section of “Voltaire’s Candide: A Bilingual Edition”. Professor of History Peter Gay performed the translation of “Candide” from French to English, and he also wrote the introduction. The following excerpt does not contain a direct translation of Voltaire; instead, the excerpt contains Gay’s perception of Voltaire. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:³

Indeed, Voltaire preached—by example rather than by precept—that the recognition of the truth that this world is filled with evils leads to a certain good humor. If this life is a desert, it is our duty to make an oasis in it; if this life is a shipwreck, we must rescue as many as we can, and not forget to sing in the lifeboats. This, I think, is the message of Candide; its continuing popularity rests not only on its wit, its pace, its color, but also on its enduring relevance.

In 1966 Peter Gay restated his analysis of “Candide” within his book “The Enlightenment: An Interpretation: The Rise of Modern Paganism”. Gay reprinted the final line of Voltaire’s satirical tale: “That’s well said, but we must cultivate our garden”, and he added the following commentary:⁴

Here, in that concluding sentence of the tale, Voltaire has fused the lessons of ancient philosophy into a prescription: Men are thrown into the world to suffer and to dominate their suffering. Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats; life is a desert, but we can transform our corner into a garden.

Thus, the quotation under examination was crafted by Peter Gay who was presenting his interpretation of the central thesis of Voltaire’s story “Candide”. The misattribution illustrates a known error mechanism. Person A summarizes, condenses, or restates the opinion of person B. At a later time the restatement is directly ascribed to person B.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Long Enough to Cover the Subject and Short Enough to Create Interest

Winston Churchill? Ronald Knox? Gerald K. Rudulph? C. H. McNider? Richard N. Elliott? Louis Sobol? Frances Langford? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The famous statesman and orator Winston Churchill was asked about the length of an ideal address, and he supposedly said:

A speech should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.

Yet, a similar remark about sermons is often attributed to the theologian Ronald Knox. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This quip is difficult to trace because it has many variants, and the phrasing is highly variable. The earliest strong match located by QI appeared in May 1920 in “The Buffalo Enquirer” of Buffalo, New York. The columnist Gerald K. Rudulph employed quotation marks to signal that the joke was already in circulation. This version used a simile comparing the length of a newspaper column and a woman’s skirt. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

. . . we will do our best and try to make this column like a woman’s skirt, “short enough to be attractive, but long enough to cover the subject.”

An instance was attributed to Churchill by 1942. He probably used it after it had been coined. Pertinent citations are presented further below. QI has been unable to find substantive evidence that Ronald Knox used the expression.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Every Individual Is an Exception to the Rule

Carl Jung? James L. McAllister Jr.? Malcolm Gladwell? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The following postulate embodies a flexible outlook on life:

There is an exception to every rule.

The famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung promulgated an even stronger adage about people:

Every individual is an exception to the rule.

Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1925 a collection of papers under the title “Problems of Personality” was published to honor the prominent psychologist Morton Prince. The collection included Carl G. Jung’s article “Psychological Types”. His typology was based on a distinction between extraverted and introverted attitudes. He also distinguished between four fundamental functions: sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition. The psychological types corresponded to combinations, e.g., “introverted sensation”, “extraverted intuition”, and “introverted feeling”. Yet, Jung realized it was difficult to impose a rigidly defined typology onto complex human beings. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

As a rule only careful observation and a weighing of the evidence permits a sure classification. Clear and simple though the fundamental principle of the two opposing attitudes may be, nevertheless their concrete reality is complicated and obscure, for every individual is an exception to the rule. Therefore, one can never give a description of a type, no matter how complete, which applies to more than one individual despite the fact that thousands might, in a certain sense, be strikingly described thereby. Conformity is one side of a man, uniqueness is the other.

The article excerpted above was based on a presentation Jung made at the International Congress of Education held in Territet, Switzerland in 1923. Jung was discussing and outlining his 1921 German book titled “Psychologische Typen”. The English title of the book and the article title were both “Psychological Types”.

It would be natural to assume that the quotation appeared in the famous 1921 book, but it did not. The quotation appeared in neither the German nor the English translation of the 1921 book. Instead, the quotation appeared in the 1925 article based on the 1923 lecture. The situation is somewhat confusing because the book and article used the same title “Psychologische Typen” (in English “Psychological Types”).

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Taxation Is the Art of Plucking the Goose without Making It Squeal

Jean-Baptiste Colbert? Anne Robert Jacques Turgot? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Governments face resistance and resentment when they attempt to raise funds through taxation. Apparently, a French wit crafted the following vivid figurative expression. Here are two versions:

Taxation is the art of plucking the goose without making it squeal.
The art of taxation is procuring feathers from a goose with the least amount of hissing.

Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match located by QI appeared within a 1766 letter about governance sent from the French economist and statesman Anne Robert Jacques Turgot to the Scottish philosopher and economist David Hume. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

… vous savez aussi tout comme moi quel est le grand but de tous gouvernemens de la terre—Soumission et argent. On cherche, comme on dit, à plumer la poule sans la faire crier—or, ce sont les propriétaires qui crient, et l’on a toujours mieux aimé les attaquer indirectment, parce qu’alors ils ne s’aperçoivent du mal que quand la chose a passé en droit…

The letter above was published in 1849 many years after it was written within a collection called “Letters of Eminent Persons Addressed to David Hume”. A translation of the 1766 letter into English appeared in the 1914 book “Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches” by Turgot:²

You know, also, as well as I do, what is the great aim of all the governments of the earth: obedience and money. The object is, as the saying goes, to pluck the hen without making it cry out; but it is the proprietors who cry out, and the government has always preferred to attack them indirectly, because then they do not perceive the harm until after the matter has become law…

As indicated in the translation, the figurative phrase about plucking was already circulating, but Turgot who lived between 1727 and 1781 popularized its application to governments seeking funds.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: In Theory There Is No Difference Between Theory and Practice, While In Practice There Is

Yogi Berra? Albert Einstein? Richard Feynman? Benjamin Brewster? Charles F. Kettering? Walter J. Savitch? Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut? Dave Jeske? Chuck Reid?

Question for Quote Investigator: The following popular adage balances unsteadily between brilliance and absurdity:

In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.

This notion has been attributed to many people including famous baseball player Yogi Berra, scientific genius Albert Einstein, and prominent physicist Richard P. Feynman. What do you think?

Reply from Quote Investigator: There is no substantive reason to credit Berra, Einstein, or Feynman. The expression was coined before Einstein had reached his third birthday and before the other two were born.

The earliest strong match located by QI appeared in “The Yale Literary Magazine” of February 1882 which was written and edited by students. Benjamin Brewster who was a member of the class of 1882 wrote about an argument he had engaged in with a philosophical friend about theory versus practice. His companion accused him of committing a vulgar error. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

I heard no more, for I was lost in self-reproach that I had been the victim of “vulgar error.” But afterwards, a kind of haunting doubt came over me. What does his lucid explanation amount to but this, that in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, while in practice there is?

Brewster was humorously summarizing the position of his friendly opponent, and QI believes that the saying should be credited to Brewster.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: What Might Have Happened, If That Which Did Happen, Had Not Happened, I Cannot Undertake To Say

Lord Palmerston? George Ward Nichols? John Moncure? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Describing a counterfactual world typically requires a comically twisted statement:

What would have happened if what did happen had not happened?

These words have been attributed to British statesman Lord Palmerston, but I have been unable to find a citation. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1850 Lord Palmerston delivered a speech in the House of Commons in London. The original phrasing of the expression differed a bit from the modern version given by the questioner. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

We have been told, however, that if it had not been for the war in Lombardy, the indispensable interference of Russia in Hungary, would not have taken place. What might have happened, if that which did happen, had not happened, I cannot undertake to say. (Hear, and laughter.)

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.