Quote Investigator® – Page 73

Quote Origin: Appalling Silence of the Good People

Martin Luther King Jr.? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. expressed unhappiness with people who were unwilling to support his efforts due to apathy or fear. He used the phrase “appalling silence”. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1958 Martin Luther King Jr. published “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story” which included the following pertinent passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

If the moderates of the white South fail to act now, history will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Our generation will have to repent not only for the acts and words of the children of darkness but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light.

King used the phrase several times as shown in the selected citations in chronological order listed below.

Quote Origin: The Problem With Television Is That the People Must Sit and Keep Their Eyes Glued on a Screen; the Average American Family Hasn’t Time for It

The New York Times? Orrin E. Dunlap Jr.? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Wildly inaccurate predictions are always amusing. Apparently, an article in “The New York Times” contended that television broadcasting would never surpass radio broadcasting because people would never be willing to sit and stare at a screen for hours on end. Would you please help me to find a citation.

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1939 “The New York Times” printed a piece titled “Act I, Scene I: Telecasts to Homes Begin on April 30—World’s Fair Will Be the Stage” by Orrin E. Dunlap Jr., a journalist who specialized in covering the radio industry. Dunlap spoke to the program director of the National Broadcasting Company who discussed the challenges of the new entertainment format. The intimacy of the television medium required a different style of performance. Broad theatrical gestures were unappealing to audiences. Newsman Dunlap also articulated the skepticism of radio broadcasters. Boldface added to excepts by QI:¹

The problem with television is that the people must sit and keep their eyes glued on a screen; the average American family hasn’t time for it. Therefore, the showmen are convinced that for this reason, if for no other, television will never be a serious competitor of broadcasting.

Dunlap correctly noted that radio allowed people to “listen and go about their household duties and routine”. Yet, that advantage was insufficient to hold back the burgeoning television age.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: If You Watch a Lot of TV, You’re Not Considered Well-Viewed

Lily Tomlin? Jane Wagner? Barbara Rowes? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: People who read numerous books are perceived positively by society. The term “well-read” implies knowledgeable and discerning. However, people who view television for endless hours are perceived negatively. The term “well-viewed” is uncommon. I have only heard it used within the punchline of a joke from comedian Lily Tomlin. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the 1979 compilation “The Book of Quotes” edited by Barbara Rowes. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

If you read a lot of books, you’re considered well-read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you’re not considered well-viewed.
—Lily Tomlin

Interestingly, Lily Tomlin’s personal website includes a webpage listing a collection of jokes. The statement under investigation is ascribed to Jane Wagner who is Tomlin’s longtime collaborator and wife:²

If you read a lot of books, you’re considered well-read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you’re not considered well-viewed. – written by Jane Wagner for Lily’s act

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Nothing Is Ugly as Long as It Is Alive

Coco Chanel? Marcel Haedrich? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Did the famous fashion designer and style arbiter Coco Chanel say that “nothing is ugly”? Would you please help me to find a citation showing the context?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Coco Chanel died in 1971, and in that same year Marcel Haedrich authored a biography in French titled “Coco Chanel Secrète”. The following year Haedrich’s work was translated by Charles Lam Markmann and published under the title “Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets”. A section called “She Said” printed a collection of remarks from Chanel including the following:¹

Nothing is ugly as long as it is alive. Women tell me: “I have rather thick legs.” I ask them: “Do they support you? That’s what matters. The legs carry you, you don’t carry them. Stop thinking about it; that is not what will make you happy.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
The passage above appeared in 1971 as follows in the original French within “Coco Chanel Secrète”:²

Rien n’est laid, du moment que c’est vivant. Des femmes me disent : « J’ai des jambes un peu grosses… » Je leur demande : « Elles vous portent ? C’est l’essentiel. Les jambes vous portent, on ne les porte pas. N’y pensez plus, ce n’est pas cela qui rend heureux. »

In 1972 the English language edition of “Vogue” magazine published a piece under Haedrich’s byline titled “Chanel: What She Knew That You Should Know Now About Life, Love ,Taste, Fashion”. The quotation was included.³ Thus, Chanel’s comment achieved further circulation.

The 1977 reference “The Quotable Woman: 1800-1975” compiled by Elaine Partnow included this entry with a supporting citation:⁴

Coco Chanel (1883-1971)
Nothing is ugly as long as it is alive.
Quoted in Coco Chanel, Her Life, Her Secrets by Marcel Haedrich

In conclusion Coco Chanel deserves credit for this quotation based on the testimony of her biographer Marcel Haedrich.

Image Notes: Illustration from “Les Élégances parisiennes” with publication date Juillet 1916. Image accessed via gallica.bnf.fr. Caption says: COSTUMES DE JERSEY: Modèles de Gabrielle Channel. (The correct spelling is Chanel). Image has been cropped and resized.

Update History: On March 27, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.

1972, Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets by Marcel Haedrich, Translated from French to English by Charles Lam Markmann, Chapter 21: Coco at Work, Section: She Said, Quote Page 253 and 254, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
1971, Coco Chanel Secrète by Marcel Haedrich, Chapter 21: Coco au travail, Section: Elle disait, Quote Page 307, Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
1972 May 1, Vogue, Volume 159, Issue 9, Features: Chanel: What She Knew That You Should Know Now About Life, Love ,Taste, Fashion by Marcel Haedrich, Start Page 164, Quote Page 165, Column 2, The Condé Nast Publications Inc., New York. (ProQuest) ↩︎
1977, The Quotable Woman: 1800-1975, Compiled and edited by Elaine Partnow, Entry: Coco Chanel (1883-1971), Quote Page 186, Corwin Books, Los Angeles, California. (Verified with scans) ↩︎

Quote Origin: Patriotism is the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

Samuel Johnson? James Boswell? Samuel Maunder? Henry F. Mason? Bernard J. Sheil? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A politician whose popularity is dropping may attempt to recapture acceptance by disingenuously embracing jingoistic patriotism. Here are three versions of a germane saying:

Pretended patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.
Patriotism is the first refuge of a scoundrel.
Patriotism is the scoundrel’s last refuge.

Would you please help me to identify an accurate version of this saying together with the identity of its creator?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Lexicographer Samuel Johnson was a celebrated eighteenth-century man of letters. Close friend and diarist James Boswell recorded Johnson’s life with exhaustive precision in a multi-volume biography. An entry dated April 7, 1775 mentioned a discussion on the topic (spelled “topick”) of patriotism during which Johnson articulated the saying. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apothegm, at which many will start: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest. I maintained, that certainly all patriots were not scoundrels. Being urged (not by Johnson,) to name one exception, I mentioned an eminent person, whom we all greatly admired.

JOHNSON. “Sir, I do not say that he is not honest; but we have no reason to conclude from his political conduct that he is honest.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I Don’t Think Necessity Is the Mother of Invention — Invention . . . Arises Directly From Idleness . . . From Laziness

Agatha Christie? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Necessity is the mother of invention according to the well-known proverb, but the brilliant mystery writer Agatha Christie disagreed. She suggested that the crucial motivation was laziness. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1976 Agatha Christie died, and the following year her autobiography was published. Christie discussed work and invention within one passage, and she mentioned George Stephenson who was a railway and steam locomotive pioneer. The ellipsis below was in the original text. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Presumably little Georgie Stephenson was enjoying idleness when he observed his mother’s tea-kettle lid rising and falling. Having nothing at the moment to do, he began to have ideas about it. . . .

I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention—invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble. That is the big secret that has brought us down the ages hundreds of thousands of years, from chipping flints to switching on the washing-up machine.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Dialogue Origin: “Only Six Months To Live. What Would You Do Then?” “Type Faster”

Isaac Asimov? Barbara Walters? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: An interviewer decided to challenge a popular and prolific author with the specter of mortality. What would the energetic scribbler do when given a prognosis of death within a year asked the interviewer. The preternaturally fixated author replied, “Type faster”.

Would you please help me to identify the author and locate a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In January 1977 Isaac Asimov published a column in “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” containing a description of an interview during which he employed the quip. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Another interviewer once tried to break down my stubborn resistance to any way of spending my life other than at the typewriter, by saying to me, “But suppose you knew you had only six months to live. What would you do then?”

And without hesitation. I said, “Type faster.”

Well, what’s wrong with that attitude? There are many people who are, or were, monomaniacally interested in whatever field of endeavor absorbed them. It’s just that most of these fields are not as noticeable to the general public as writing is.

Asimov did not name the interviewer in the passage above, but in the 1980 citation given further below, Asimov identified his questioner as television journalist Barbara Walters.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I Have Seen Dark Hours in My Life, and I Have Seen the Darkness Gradually Disappearing and the Light Gradually Increasing

Frederick Douglass? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The famous anti-slavery orator Frederick Douglass once stated that society was slowly improving. He believed that he was seeing “the darkness gradually disappearing and the light gradually increasing”. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: On October 22, 1890 “The Evening Star” newspaper of Washington D. C. reported on a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church on the previous night. His concluding words looked to the future with an element of optimism engendered by a religious outlook. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness gradually disappearing and the light gradually increasing. One by one I have seen obstacles removed, errors corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all the elements that go to make up the sum of general welfare. And I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that whatever delays, whatever disappointments and discouragements may come, truth, justice, liberty and humanity will ultimately prevail.

Below are additional selected citations and comments.

Quote Origin: This Is My Truth, Now Tell Me Yours

Aneurin Bevan? Jennie Lee? Michael Foot? Friedrich Nietzsche? Zarathustra? Manic Street Preachers? John Strachey? Hubert Griffith? Herbert L. Matthews? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: A U.K politician expressed a willingness to hear alternative viewpoints by using the following expression:

This is my truth; tell me yours.

British Labour Party leader Aneurin Bevan has received credit for this remark. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: There is substantive evidence that Aneurin Bevan employed this statement. The second volume of a comprehensive biography of Bevan by Michael Foot appeared in 1973, and Foot attributed the saying to Bevan. Interestingly, Foot also alluded to a precursor remark by the famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

Often he would protest furiously: ‘O God why did you make the world so beautiful and the life of man so short?’ But he would also say, with Nietzsche, ‘this is my truth, now tell me yours’, thus invoking his special gift of imaginative tolerance.

Jennie Lee who was married to Bevan from 1934 up to his death in 1960 also attributed the saying to Bevan. See the 1980 citation below. Admittedly, the ascriptions from Foot and Lee appeared after the death of Bevan which reduced their probative value.

Here are additional selected citations and comments.

Quote Origin: This Is My Way; Where Is Yours?

Friedrich Nietzsche? Zarathustra? John Strachey? Hubert Griffith? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Different people hold divergent views of the world. Here are three versions of a germane remark:

You have heard my truth; now tell me yours.
This then is my truth. What is yours?
This is my way; where is yours?

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche has received credit for this comment. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Between 1883 and 1885 Friedrich Nietzsche published “Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen” (“Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None”). Zarathustra was an important religious figure, but Nietzsche constructed his own fictional didactic version of the prophet. The third part of the Nietzsche’s book contained a passage in which the character Zarathustra discussed his pursuit of truth. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

By many ways, in many ways, I reached my truth: it was not on one ladder that I climbed to the height where my eye roams over my distance. And it was only reluctantly that I ever inquired about the way: that always offended my taste. I preferred to question and try out the ways themselves.

Zarathustra continued his commentary by signaling that his way/truth might be different from the way/truth of the reader:

A trying and questioning was my every move; and verily, one must also learn to answer such questioning. That, however, is my taste—not good, not bad, but my taste of which I am no longer ashamed and which I have no wish to hide.

“This is my way; where is yours?”—thus I answered those who asked me “the way.” For the way—that does not exist.

Thus spoke Zarathustra.

QI conjectures that the saying under analysis evolved from Nietzsche’s words. The translation above was created by Princeton University Professor of Philosophy Walter Kaufmann in 1954. An excerpt from the original German is presented below together with additional English renderings.