On the right track, but can get run over (Rogers? Twain?); Put on a clinic (1973); Law of Holes

Fri Apr 9 03:03:50 UTC 2004

EVEN IF YOU'RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK, YOU CAN GET RUN OVER IF YOU'RE NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH (or, IF YOU JUST SIT THERE)

   Mark Twain?  Will Rogers?  Someone else?
   From the NEW YORK SUN, 8 April 2004, pg. 9, col. 5:

   Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage memorably summed up the situation our nation found itself in by quoting Mark Twain in his recent testimony to the 9/11 Commission: "Even though you're on the right track, you can get run over if you're not going fast enough."

(GOOGLE)
Date:         Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:35:43 -0500
Reply-To:     Mark Twain Forum <TWAIN-L at YORKU.CA>
Sender:       Mark Twain Forum <TWAIN-L at YORKU.CA>
From:         Joseph Alvarez <jalvarez at CAROLINA.RR.COM>
Subject:      Re: Clemens quoted in 9-11 inquiry
In-Reply-To:  <200403252008.i2PH1NqL001441 at sundial.ccs.yorku.ca>
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Fellow Twainians:

I hate to be the first one to reply (because I am sure many of you know
about it), but Barbara Schmidt has an excellent Mark Twain Quotations
web site <http://www.twainquotes.com/>.

Also, after a five-ten minute Google search, I found four web sites and
one PowerPoint presentation, all attributing the quote to Will Rogers
(two of them were financial-related). Armitage's--quote copied from
Larry Howe's message: "even though you're on the right track, you can
get run over if you're not going fast enough."-- is not precisely
accurate according to the sites I found (one of which is slightly
different from the others).

1. "Even if you're on the right track, you're gonna get run over if
you're just sitting there." _Entrepreneur_ Magazine web site, Nov.
2002.

  2. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just
sit there." National Staff Development Council web site , Staff
Development Library: "Powerful Words" (twenty or so quotes including
this one).

3. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just
sit there." Planned Parenthood web site. Speeches: "Awakening: The
Courage to Act." March 2002.

4. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just
sit there." Brian L. Sullivan, Independent Financial Services web site.

This example is, of course, but one in a long historical line of
misattributions to Twain.

Joe Alvarez
900 Havel Court
Charlotte, NC  28211-4253
Telephone: 704.364.2844
FAX: 704.364.9348

On Mar 25, 2004, at 2:43 PM, Ballard, Terry Prof. wrote:

> Yes, it is really Will Rogers. Maybe that suggests a cooperative
> project for this congregation - a web site of Twain quotes that are
> actually Twain quotes, each one with a print citation. Just a thought.
>
> Terry

(GOOGLE)
'Your Government Failed You'
... Even if you're on the right track, you can still get run over if you're not going
fast enough," Bush's deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, testified. ...
www.katc.com/ Global/story.asp?S=1736073&nav=EyAzLmXL - 78k - Cached - Similar pages

[PDF] REMARKS BY DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD ARMITAGE AT THE ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... MR. ARMITAGE: Thank you, Mike, or I should say General (Coste ... of the words of Mark
Twain about you can get run over even if you're on the right track if you ...
www.csis.org/csis40/armitage.pdf - Similar pages

Online NewsHour: Public Testimony -- March 30, 2004
... You heard Deputy Secretary Armitage of the State Department say just because
you are on the right track doesn't mean you won't get run over. ...
www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/ jan-june04/911_03-30.html - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
PEPPER and Salt
Wall Street Journal (1889-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Sep 30, 1940. p. 4 (1 page) :
   Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.--Rays of Sunshine.

(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
Ironwood Daily Globe -  3/9/1925
...on yourself, Uveii it you tire on the RIGHT TRACK you will get RUN OVER it you Just sit.....change, 1C you would. Too many Ililnga arc RIGHT hANDy to ride; our street uni'H, our.....MBMUEII ASSOCIATED I' I ESS AiuucUited I'RUN In oallllcd to for of ill news orudltafl.....ot mines on tho Gogeblc range, has taken OVER the sale of oro from the Newport nnd..
Ironwood,  Michigan     Monday, March 09, 1925   577 k

clearfield_progress_  -  3/14/1925
...LET US KNOW If You Are On The RIGHT TRACK You'll Get RUN OVER Unless You Hustle.....country. The industry is OVER-manned AND OVER-produced, according to, the gOVERnment.....in a motor car. The j automobile turned .OVER two miles j west of here AND the thieves.....although production declined in Fabruary. OVER-production was reported throughout this..
Clearfield,  Pennsylvania     Saturday, March 14, 1925   713 k

clearfield_progress_  -  6/29/1925
...is But if jyou stop' there you'll 'get RUN OVER. i, jVafch your TepotltJon. If you.....at a moderate price. -A Kelvinator is built RIGHT into the refrigerator AND both are.....are too glad to welcome us home.: i on the RIGHT, TRACK.....mains. High said that two hospitals in Mr. AND Mrs. LelTk-r AND ily, Mrs. Mary Book, AND..
Clearfield,  Pennsylvania     Monday, June 29, 1925   783 k

Coshocton Tribune -  1/18/1928
...by progress. Even if you are on the RIGHT TRACK j you will get RUN OVER if you just j.....Many a good argument is knockj ed down AND RUN OVER.....practitioners, to be sure, may be on the RIGHT TRACK they say that our present.....the way to prosper is for everybody to go RIGHT out AND 'blow his money.) East..
Coshocton,  Ohio     Wednesday, January 18, 1928   778 k

Sheboygan Press -  6/23/1929
...profitable. Even if you are on the RIGHT TRACK, you will be RUN OVER if you just sit.....to do wrong, but they cannot make men do RIGHT. They can close up baseball parks AND.....clock Arman McWilliams, entering the Casino RUN by Kelley Howell, was shot AND perhaps.....arrested AND paid fines totaling a trifle OVER At that time the place was known as a..
Sheboygan,  Wisconsin     Sunday, June 23, 1929   620 k

Indiana Evening Gazette -  5/18/1942
...an unlimited supply of gasolineyouTl get "RUN OVER if you just sit i during period.....through Saturday. Even if you're on the RIGHT TRACK, York sailor says he AND six.....Roll Sunnyfield Smoked Skinned BUY "Super RIGHT" MEATS Hamburger Saper RIGHTn Me IT A.....anti-Hitler Russia, AND for rigid control OVER Stalinist activities in this country..
Indiana,  Pennsylvania     Monday, May 18, 1942   912 k

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PUT ON A CLINIC (continued)

   A little earlier.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
Article 1 -- No Title; St. John's Tops Illinois; Princeton Wins, 72-62
By SAM GOLDAPER. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Dec 28, 1973. p. 37 (2 pages)
Pg. 38:  "They put on a clinic of Eastern basketball against Duquesne."

Fired-Up Cavs Easily Humble Bullets, 112-98; Fired-Up Cavaliers Run Over Bullets
By Paul AttnerWashington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.: Mar 19, 1975. p. E1 (2 pages)
First page:  The Cleveland Cavaliers conducted what coach Bill Fitch said was an efficient clinic in basketball fundamentals tonights.  The Washington Bullets should have taken a few lessons.  (...)  It was, as coach K. C. Jones so aptly put it, "One of those nights."

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LAW OF HOLES

   Does Fred Shapiro have the Dennis Healey quote?  Maybe Michael Quinion or Jonathon Green have it?  Google doesn't seem to have a precise date for this.

(GOOGLE)
New Statesman: Healey's first law of holes is to stop digging, so ...
You are Here: Articles > New Statesman > Nov 8, 1996 > Article. Healey's first
law of holes is to stop digging, so he believes Labour should not plunge ...
www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FQP/n4309_v125/ 19124747/p1/article.jhtml - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
Negotiate With Moscow, Not Ourselves
By Nicholas F. Brady. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Sep 11, 1984. p. A31 (1 page):
   There is a Law of Holes that says, when you are in one, stop digging.