Aneurin Bevan – Quote Investigator®

Robert Frost? Margaret Thatcher? Dwight D. Eisenhower? Aneurin Bevan? Franklin P. Jones? I. P. Reynolds? Eric Nicol? John M. Ashbrook? William Penn Patrick? Sydney Harris? Alan Craig Loughrige? Jim Hightower? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Social relationships and political decisions often entail compromise. Yet, these intermediary policies, i.e., middle-of-the-road positions, frequently engender hostility. Here is a pertinent adage:

The middle of the road is where the white line is—and that’s the worst place to drive.

Prominent U.S. poet Robert Frost has received credit for this remark. Lines between lanes in the U.S. may be white or yellow. Cogent comments on this topic have been attributed to U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Would you please explore statements of this type?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Robert Frost appeared on a television show broadcast by educational television station WQED in 1956. The magazine “Collier’s” printed a collection of his statements delivered during the show. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[1]1956 April 27, Collier’s, Wise Man by Leonard Gross, (Educational television station WQED interviewed poet Robert Frost; quotations from Frost were printed in this article), Start Page 42, Quote … Continue reading

ON BEING YOURSELF

People have got to think. Thinking isn’t to agree or disagree. That’s voting.

Somebody said to me the other day, “Are you a middle-of-the-roader?” So I said, “Well, if you want to call me bad names. The middle of the road is where the white line is—and that’s the worst place to drive.”

Below are additional selected citations which fit the theme of middle-of the-road presented in chronological order.

Continue reading The Middle of the Road is Where the White Line Is—and That’s the Worst Place To Drive

References

References
↑1	1956 April 27, Collier’s, Wise Man by Leonard Gross, (Educational television station WQED interviewed poet Robert Frost; quotations from Frost were printed in this article), Start Page 42, Quote Page 42, Column 1, Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, Springfield, Ohio. (Unz)

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

Dear 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?

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] 1973, Aneurin Bevan: A Biography by Michael Foot, Volume 2: 1945-1960, Chapter 17: 1960, Quote Page 657, Davis-Poynter, London. (Verified with scans)

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.

Continue reading This Is My Truth, Now Tell Me Yours

References

References
↑1	1973, Aneurin Bevan: A Biography by Michael Foot, Volume 2: 1945-1960, Chapter 17: 1960, Quote Page 657, Davis-Poynter, London. (Verified with scans)