Our Liberty Is Not the Right To Do As We Please, But the Opportunity To Please To Do What Is Right

Peter Marshall? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I once heard an intriguing remark about action and autonomy. It was roughly the following: May freedom be seen, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. These words were attributed to a U.S. religious figure, but I do …

A Different World Cannot Be Built By Indifferent People

Peter Marshall? E. W. Palmer? Mary Morain? Stanley Sykes? Horace Mann? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Would you please explore the provenance of the following inspirational quotation? A different world cannot be built by indifferent people. These words are often attributed to someone named Peter Marshall, but I have seen other individuals credited. Quote Investigator: The …

Quote Origin: If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything

Alexander Hamilton? Gordon A. Eadie? Irene Dunne? Peter Marshall? Theodore DeVries? William Sloane Coffin Jr.? Alex Hamilton? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a popular exhortative statement that employs the contrasting words “stand” and “fall”. Here are three versions: (1) If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. (2) Those who stand …