"Truth is the first casualty."

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan, The 1915 citation for "truth is the first casualty in war"
is an excellent find. It is sometimes difficult trying to keep track
of all the different repositories one can search when exploring a
quotation. Barry Popik investigated this saying in January and has
already posted this important 1915 citation. I know this because I was
just about to post on this topic in early January, and then I checked
Barry's website again.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_first_casualty_of_war_is_truth/

Here are two cites before 1915. These were the most entertaining early
partial matches on the theme that I found:

Title: Memoirs of an American lady: With sketches of manners and
scenery in America, as they existed previous to the revolution
Author: Anne MacVicar Grant
Edition: reprint
Publisher: G. Dearborn, 1836

Truth is the first victim to fear and policy; when matters arrive at
that crisis, every one finds a separate interest ; mutual confidence,
which cannot outlive sincerity, dies next, and all the kindred virtues
drop in succession.

http://books.google.com/books?id=lxAeAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Truth+is%22#v=snippet&


Title: The Christian work and the evangelist, Volume 76
Published: 1904
Date: April 2, 1904

The way the news from the seat of war is stated one day, reiterated
the next day and "authoritatively contradicted" the day following
forcibly illustrates the fact that truth often takes slow trains in
war times and arrives at the station much behind time.

http://books.google.com/books?id=u4NPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22war+times%22#v=snippet&



On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 7:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "Truth is the first casualty."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> YBQ has this from 1927. A check of the Archives reveals no discussion here:
>
> 1915 Mrs. Philip Snowden (Liverpool, England), in  National Education
> Association of the United States  _Journal of the Proceedings and Addresses
> of the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting and International Congress on
> Education_LIII 55 [GB complete volume image]: Someone has finely said that
> "truth is the first casualty in war"; and never was a greater untruth spoken
> than that war is waged for the protection of women and homes.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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