Don't Know Who Said It, But It's Important

Quote of the day:
"Cynicism is often the shamefaced product of inexperience."
--A. J. Liebling

We live in a time when easy, slogan philosophies predominate, especially among politicians, marketers and management consultants. Also, millions of quotes and anecdotes circulate daily on the internet, usually with questionable or no attribution.

Bill Ward, in the "Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune," reminds us that much of what we assume or are told about who said what is simply wrong. He points out that Humphrey Bogart did not say “play it again, Sam” in the movie Casablanca, though Ingrid Bergman did say “play it, Sam.” Also, Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson.” Nor did Tarzan ever say “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”

Sgt. Joe Friday never said “Just the facts, ma’am.” And one of the favorites these days, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way” was not said by Gen. George S. Patton, but by Thomas Paine.

As a minister, people often approached me with a written quote or a story, usually with a religious theme. Sometimes these would be interesting or funny, sometimes they would be just awful. Rarely was any attribution attached.

Often people assumed that certain sayings came from the bible or somewhere else in the tradition, when the reality was that no one knew where they came from.

It took me a while to realize that when someone brought me a quote or story, they were telling me something about themselves. So who wrote it became an unnecessary question.