Quote Investigator® – Page 92

Quote Origin: Patriotism Is the Virtue of the Vicious

Oscar Wilde? A. H. Cooper-Prichard? Alvin Redman? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The Irish playwright Oscar Wilde achieved his greatest fame in London. The historically fractured and deadly relationship between Ireland and England has led some intellectuals of the isles to adopt a skeptical attitude toward patriotic fervor. Intense emotions have been inspired by both patriotism and opposition to patriotism. The following remark has been attributed to Wilde:

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

I haven’t been able to find this saying in famous wit’s oeuvre. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Oscar Wilde died in 1900. The earliest match located by QI appeared in the 1931 book “Conversations with Oscar Wilde” by A. H. Cooper-Prichard. Unfortunately, the conversations reported in this book were fabricated. This has produced considerable confusion because some readers assumed that the book was non-fiction when it was really fiction.

The book included the following invented dialogue between the author and Oscar Wilde. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“How is it,” I once asked him, “that people who are not possessed of a single other virtue should come out at times as patriots?”

“Exaggerated patriotism,” he answered, “is the most insincere form of self-conceit.” And at another time he said, “Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.”

The fictional nature of Cooper-Prichard’s book was discussed in the January 1997 issue of the journal “The Wildean” which is published by “The Oscar Wilde Society”:²

The book is a tolerably amusing series of quite lengthy verbatim ‘conversations’ between Wilde, Walt Whitman, Whistler, William Morris, Lord Leighton and sundry persons with such names as Lady Flapdoodle, the Rev. Sandbagge, and the Hon. Cholmondeley Danglars.

How could anyone mistake this for a biographical work? In any case Cooper-Prichard signalled his intentions at the end of the first chapter by ‘quoting’ Wilde as saying ‘Imagination is the gift of describing as fact what has not really happened.’

QI believes that the quotation under examination was constructed by A. H. Cooper-Prichard, and it was not spoken or written by Oscar Wilde.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: A Good Loser Is No Good

Robert Zuppke? Red Grange? Harry Gaspar? Robert Haven Schauffler? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Traditionally, displaying good sportsmanship and being a gracious loser has been extolled. Yet, a harsher and more controversial perspective has inspired an acerbic family of mottoes. Here are three examples:

A good loser is no good.
A good loser is a perennial loser.
A good loser is still a loser.

Would you please explore the history of the first saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1924 a newspaper in Santa Ana, California discussed prominent sports figure Robert Zuppke who won multiple national championships while he was the football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The newspaper reprinted quotations from Zuppke that originally appeared in a magazine article. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

In the Nov. 8 issue of Liberty, Zuppke speaks his mind in part as follows:

“When I say that a good loser is no good I am merely making a statement that every American, whether in sport or in business, knows is true if he will stop and think. It is not commendable or desirable to be a good loser.”

Coach Zuppke further elaborated on the topic; he wanted intense efforts from his players:

“It is my experience that all quitters are good losers. The right kind of player must have a fear and horror of losing. If he hasn’t he will not tap his reserve energy in a game.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: When You Want To Fool the World, Tell the Truth

Otto von Bismarck? Charles Haddon Spurgeon? George Bernard Shaw? Gaston Means? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: An individual who is distrusted can tell the absolute truth and experience solid skepticism. This is particularly accurate when the truth is difficult to believe or comprehend. This observation is reflected in the following adage. Here are four versions:

When you have to fool the world, tell the truth.
To fool the world tell the truth.
The way to fool the people is to tell the truth.
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.

This saying has been attributed to Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, but I have been unable to find a citation. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In February 1885 the “Democrat and Chronicle” of Rochester, New York reported on a confusing stock transaction executed by a financial partner of the powerful speculator Jay Gould. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

The entire street was puzzled by the performance. The general opinion seemed to be that the transactions were “wash” sales and that Gould had simply sold the stock with one hand and bought with the other. Others held that Gould was simply acting on Bismarck’s principle: “When you have to fool the world, tell the truth.”

Gould’s partner and confidential broker sold a large number of shares of Western Union. Normally, this would cause the share price to drop significantly, but Wall Street denizens suspected that something secret was occurring, and the price only fell a small amount. This outcome pleased Gould.

In 1885 Bismarck was still a powerful figure in European politics; he lived until 1898. QI has not yet found a contemporary German version of this quotation ascribed to the statesman. The newspaper referred to the adage as “Bismarck’s principle”; hence, it remains possible that he never said it; instead, observers synthesized the statement to describe the behavior of Bismarck.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: He Who Is Not Courageous Enough To Take Risks Will Accomplish Nothing in Life

Muhammad Ali? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The world heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali was acclaimed for his physical and verbal dexterity. One of his mottoes stated that courage was needed to take bold risks, and significant accomplishments required these daring risks. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In April 1977 Muhammad Ali who was promoting his upcoming boxing match spoke to a group of journalists. His remarks were reported in the “Fort Lauderdale News” of Florida. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

Obviously pleased with the philosophical direction of his answers, Ali continued in the same vein.

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks,” he said, “will accomplish nothing in life.”

He looked at the reporter’s note pad. “You got that?” he asked. He repeated it more slowly.

“Risk is why they are paying me so much money,” he said. “Look at the astronauts. They took risks. Evel Knievel takes much more risks than me.”

“I’m already the greatest. The most recognizable face in the world.”

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: The Very Existence of Libraries Affords the Best Evidence That We May Yet Have Hope for the Future of Man

T. S. Eliot? Jayne Ann Krentz? Alan Bennett? Apocryphal? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot apparently stated that the establishment of libraries provided compelling evidence that humanity had a future. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The renowned poet T. S. Eliot died in 1965, and the earliest match known to QI appeared many years later in 1992 within the novel “Perfect Partners” by Jayne Ann Krentz who started her career as a librarian before she become a top-selling romance author. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

Since the days of ancient Alexandria libraries had stood for all the best that mankind could achieve.

The very existence of libraries held out hope for the future of the human race, as far as Letty was concerned. If people had enough sense to collect and store information and make it available to everyone, perhaps they would someday have enough sense to use that wisdom to stop wars and find a cure for cancer.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: You Are Not a Human Being Having a Spiritual Experience. You Are a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin? Wayne W. Dyer? Stephen R. Covey? Georges Gurdjieff? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Antimetabole is a powerful rhetorical technique in which a phrase is repeated, but key elements are reordered. A popular statement about spirituality uses this strategy:

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

French philosopher and priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has received credit for this remark, but I have been unable to find a citation. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Researchers have not found this quotation in the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who died 1955.

The earliest close match located by QI appeared in an advertisement in “Time” magazine in 1988. The automobile company Volkswagen invited the bestselling motivational author Wayne W. Dyer to craft “A Letter to the Next Generation”, and Dyer included the following rhetorical question aimed at people of the future. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

Can you see yourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than human beings who may be having a spiritual experience?

Dyer elaborated on the question by discussing his three-year-old daughter who served him make believe food on toy dishes. She was expressing her love and caring for her father via invisible substances. He highlighted the importance of her beautiful thoughts and feelings which were also invisible. Dyer suggested that the father and daughter were spiritual beings.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I Know Artists Whose Medium Is Life Itself, and Who Express the Inexpressible Without Brush, Pencil, Chisel, or Guitar

Frederick Franck? Oscar Wilde? Donna J. Stone? J. Stone? Timothy Morrissey? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Artists do not always require implements such as brushes, clay, chisels, hammers, or guitars to create works. Some artists use life itself as a medium. This fascinating notion has been expressed in a family of quotations that I have been attempting to trace. Would you be willing to help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in the 1973 book “The Zen of Seeing: Seeing/Drawing As Meditation” by Frederick Franck. The work was extensively illustrated, and the text was handwritten. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

And yet, I know artists whose medium is Life itself, and who express the inexpressible without brush, pencil, chisel, or guitar. They neither paint nor dance. Their medium is Being. Whatever their hand touches has increased Life. They SEE and don’t have to draw. They are the artists of being alive.

Researchers would have difficulty finding the text above in a modern computer database. The handwritten text is not properly converted to searchable text by current optical character recognition algorithms. Hence, Franck’s book is in the Google Books database, but it is not searchable. QI has verified the printed text above with the handwritten text.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: All the Good Music’s Already Been Written By People With Wigs and Stuff On

Frank Zappa? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Iconoclastic musician and composer Frank Zappa was known for his trenchant cultural commentary. Apparently, he once stated that all the good music had already been created by the composers of an earlier era who stereotypically wore wigs. Would you please help me to find a citation

Reply from Quote Investigator: In November 1986 “The Progressive” published an interview with Frank Zappa conducted by freelance writers Batya Friedman and Steve Lyons. Zappa was asked about the place of the composer in contemporary society. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

I don’t think a composer has any function in society at all, especially in an industrial society, unless it is writing music scores, advertising jingles, or stuff that is consumed in industry.

Zappa included a provocative statement about the novelty of modern music:

All the good music’s already been written by people with wigs and stuff on.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: You Cannot Control the Length of Your Life, But You Can Control Its Width and Depth

Evan Esar? H. L. Mencken? Exchange? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The key to achieving equanimity and contentment in life is accurately assessing what is within your control and what is beyond your control. The following figurative adage is instructive:

You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

These words have been ascribed to quotation collector Evan Esar and acerbic pundit H. L. Mencken. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Evan Esar did include this saying in a collection he published in 1968, but it was already in circulation, and he did not craft it. H. L. Mencken did receive credit for the statement by the 1980s, but he died in 1956, and there is no substantive evidence that he coined it.

The earliest close match located by QI appeared in a California newspaper in 1924 which acknowledged the journal “Exchange”. The elaborate saying contained ten parts. The first nine parts were implicitly prefaced with the phrase “You cannot control”. Below are the first three parts together with the final part. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

YOU CANNOT CONTROL
The length of your life, but you can control its width and depth.
The contour of your countenance, but you can control its expression.
The other fellow’s opportunities, but you can grasp your own.
. . .
Why worry about things you can’t control? Get busy controlling the things that you can.—Exchange.

QI has not yet determined the issue of “Exchange” containing this saying. Nor has QI determined the identity of the creator. Thus, for now, the quotation remains anonymous.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Education ‘To Earn a Living’ Will Become an Anachronism

Buckminster Fuller? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: In recent years the discussion of artificial intelligence and robotics replacing human workers has resurfaced. In addition, economic ideas such as universal basic income have been proposed to ameliorate societal dislocations. I am reminded of discourses from the 1960s.

The controversial pathbreaking inventor and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller believed that large-scale automation was going to render obsolete the requirement that each person ‘earn a living’. Instead, he thought individuals would engage in life-long education based on self-selected goals and desires. Would you please help me to find a citation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1961 Southern Illinois University asked R. Buckminster Fuller to share his ideas about building an entirely new college campus. Fuller delivered a lecture which was turned into a book titled “Education Automation: Freeing the Scholar to Return to His Studies” published in 1962. Fuller touched upon the following theme several times during his career. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

Much of the educational system today is aimed at answering: “How am I going to survive? How am I going to get a job? I must earn a living.” That is the priority item under which we are working all the time—the idea of having to earn a living. That problem of “how are we going to earn a living?” is going to go out the historical window, forever, in the next decade, and education is going to be disembarrassed of the unseen “practical” priority bogeyman. Education will then be concerned primarily with exploring to discover not only more about the universe and its history but about what the universe is trying to do, about why man is part of it, and about how can, and may man best function in universal evolution.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.