[Ads-l] Family of quotations about changing political orientation: If you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart etc.

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Way back in 2013 and 2014 I posted to the list about a saying
attributed to Winston Churchill, Anselme Batbie, François Guizot,
Georges Clemenceau and others. Here is a link to the QI article posted
in February 2014 (and subsequently updated).

If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a
Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-head/

(The QI article has been updated today, but the changes may not be
visible for many hours.)

Researcher Konstantin Dushenko of Moscow contacted me and notified me
of two excellent citations.

The first citation from Dushenko was an attribution of a precursor to
François Guizot in 1861. This was helpful because previously the first
linkage to Guizot (known to me) appeared in a 1936 quotation book. The
statement ascribed to Guizot in 1861 did not mention the contrast
between the heart and head:

[ref] 1861, La Loi des Révolutions: Les Générations, Les Nationalités
- Les Dynasties, Les Religions (The Law of Revolutions: Generations,
Nationalities - Dynasties, Religions) by Justin Dromel, (Year 1861 is
handwritten on the title page; Date September 18, 1861 is printed at
the end of the "Avant Propos et Dédicace" ("Foreword and
Dedication")), Quote Page 128, A La Librairie Académique, Didier et
Ce, Paris, France. (HathiTrust Full View) link [/ref]

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89016579799
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89016579799?urlappend=%3Bseq=136

[Begin excerpt]
Un homme d'Etat de 1830, Guizot, si nos souvenirs nous servent
fidèlement, disait qu’il ne comprenait pas qu’un homme, âgé de moins
de vingt-cinq ans, ne fût pas républicain, ni qu’un homme, ayant
dépassé cet âge, le fût encore.
[End excerpt]

[Begin translation of excerpt]
A statesman of 1830, Guizot, if our memories serve us faithfully, said
that he did not understand why a man under the age of twenty-five,
would not be a republican, nor why a man having exceeded that age
would still be one.
[End translation of excerpt]

The other information from Dushenko pointed to an 1874 history book by
Jules Claretie which included a reprint of a public 1872 letter from
Anselme Polycarpe Batbie. This letter contained the first strong match
for the saying (known to me). This was helpful because previously I
knew about Batbie's letter, but I had not located a copy of the
letter. The details are in the QI article linked above.

During the revision of the article I also added a 1799 attribution of
a precursor statement to John Adams. Fred Shapiro included this
pertinent statement in "The Yale Book of Quotations''.

Garson O'Toole

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