Topical Quote: When the facts change, I change too: Churchill; Keynes; Samuelson

Garson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sun Oct 2 11:46:41 UTC 2011


Victor: Much thanks for your exploration of this saying and your
posted response.

Victor Steinbok wrote
> A couple of trivially equivalent examples that do not, however, include
> the retort, "What do YOU do?" or the address "Madam".

<material omitted>

> Another relevant instance is here:
> http://goo.gl/8Ft6R
>
> It's a collection of British parliamentary papers that attributes the
> following to "Miss Coleman" (1946?):
>
>> Those people who are incapable of changing their views when the facts
>> change are extremely rigid in their mental make up.

Here are the details for this citation from the Hansard database.

Hansard UK Debates in Parliament.
Date: 1946 May 31
WORLD FOOD SITUATION
HC Deb 31 May 1946 vol 423 cc1490-578

Miss Colman
I did not say I had repented, I have not; I have merely changed my
view, and for this simple reason, that the facts of the situation have
changed. Those people who are incapable of changing their views when
the facts change are extremely rigid in their mental make-up.
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1946/may/31/world-food-situation#S5CV0423P0_19460531_HOC_70

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list