Sayings of Great People.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 August 1910, Page 4

Sayings of Great People.

A correspondent of a London paper raises an inquiry which is of the nature, of a doubt, which must at ruie time or another have presented itself to the minds of thte majority of people. "Is it," he asks, "always Disraeli that actually did say for the first time, the many things attributed to him?" This is a question which suggests many oth ers. Did Archimedes really say "Give me a fuMirum on wlijoh to rest, and I will move the earth?" Did Diogenes tell Alexander that the only fa \v:r he had to ask of him was, that he .vciikl stand out of 1 \s light? The '■>!■ is one that might be pro , ;,-!):<■<■<! in Iciinitely, and in il.e vast iiMi.j i-. ity of cases T.-.o nv.sv. r would ic, as ministers say, in t 1 ;-.- negative. Queen -Elizabeth f , :.! Kit say 'half the olevor things with wl-i-'i she is crodiied. Wollii.loi! fV ' nit say "Up Guards an.l ' nt t' r>'n," and the majority of vuait s';. ini's which are ascribed to iv. :lnev Smith, Sheridan, an.l othf-r wits, must have been invents , .! by other people, who_ thought thjywne good enough to live, and 'o:nrve.l that they would have a better chance of immortality if they were linked with the names of somebody famous. Wlion we come to the case of Disraeli, we are on firmer ground, because it is more or less practicable to ascertain the source of a jest which is stated at a time within'living- memory. Disraeli certainly said, and was quite equal to originating many brilliant things, but one writer offers the hojr.ri-ble suggestion that Disraeli's bon mots were not all his own. Life is not long enough to admit of an -investigation" ol that description, which would probably have the effect of wo ring to the satisfaction of investigators, that one half the clever dicta now current originated with. Xoah, and the other half with Adam.