better to light the candle than to curse the darkness - 1907

Garson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Tue Oct 20 10:15:47 UTC 2009


"Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness."
Citation: "The Supreme Conquest: and Other Sermons Preached in
America" by William Lonsdale Watkinson, Fleming H. Revell Company, New
York, page 218, 1907.

The book is downloadable from Google Books and the document appears to
be correctly dated.

Page 418 of YBQ gives a 1940 citation and suggests it "may indeed have
been a Chinese saying". ADS-L archives have a post in 2004 with
citations in the 1940s. Encarta Book of Quotations says it is a
"Chinese Proverb".

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



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