[Ads-l] Disraeli quote

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

David Daniel (DAD) wrote:
> There's a message going round the internet that claims to be a Disraeli
> quote. Thing is, it's in Portuguese. It translates as "The moment demands
> that good men have the audacity of scoundrels." I can't find anything even
> similar. Does someone out there (Mr. O'Toole perhaps) have info about this?

Circa 1963 a thematically matching quotation was attributed to
Disraeli. The quotation was in Portuguese and the setting was Brazil.
Since I do not know Portuguese I relied on the Google Translator
during this preliminary search.

I was unable to find a substantive match in English attributed to
Disraeli using keywords "audacity" and  "scoundrel". There is a
thematic match in English in 1935.

Year: 1963
Title: Anais da Câmara dos Deputados
Volume 12
Contributor: Brazil. Congresso Nacional. Câmara dos Deputados
Publisher: Departamento de Imprensa Nacional
Quote Page 196
Database: Google Books (This is raw metadata from GB; inaccuracies are common)

[Begin extracted text from GB]
Mas preste atenção o afoito Deputado a esta frase de Disraeli que já
repeti em sua terra numa cadeia de 77 estações de rádio e de televisão
e que também é aplicável ao Brasil: "O que faz a grandeza das Ilhas
Britânicas, é que aqui os homens de bem têm a mesma audácia dos
canalhas"
[End extracted text from GB]

[Begin Google Translation]
But pay attention to the daring Deputy to this phrase from Disraeli
that I have already repeated in your country on a chain of 77 radio
and television stations and that is also applicable to Brazil: "What
makes the greatness of the British Isles, is that here men well they
have the same audacity as scoundrels"
[End Google Translation]

Year: 1935
Title: Mirabeau
Author: Evarts Seelye Scudder
Publisher: Arthur Barker, London (data from WorldCat)
Quote Page 222
Database: Google Books (This is raw metadata from GB; inaccuracies are common)

[Begin extracted text from GB]
“Nothing will save us,” he wrote, “except a plan that amalgamates the
combinations of the statesman and the resources of intrigue, the
courage of great citizens and the audacity of scoundrels. We need a
sort of political pharmacy in which the ...
[End extracted text from GB]

Garson

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