Quote: your liberty ends just where my nose begins (1894)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Closed quote after "begins,"

JL

On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 9:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: your liberty ends just where my nose begins (1894)
>
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> 1887 _Atlanta Constitution_ (Nov. 9) 5 [NewspaperArchive]: The only leading
> urged by the anti-prohibitionists in this campaign for keeping ope=
> n
> the bar-rooms, is personal liberty. A great man has said, "your personal
> liberty to swing your arm ends where my nose begins, [and a] man's personal
> liberty to drink whisky and support barrooms [sic] ends where the rights of
> the family and community begin.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 9:33 AM, Garson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
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> > Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Quote: your liberty ends just where my nose begins (1894)
> >
> >
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> >
> > Yesterday, a Professor Emeritus at Hunter College asked me about the
> > following quote: "Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose."
> >
> > Exact matches for this wording do not find much. But there are a large
> > number of "conceptual" matches. In recent decades the sentiment has
> > been attributed to a variety of luminaries:
> >
> > Attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes: "The right to swing my fist ends
> > where the other man's nose begins."
> > Attributed to Judge Learned Hand: "Your right to swing your fist ends
> > where my nose begins."
> > Attributed to John Stuart Mill: "The right to swing my arms in any
> > direction ends where your nose begins."
> > Attributed to Abraham Lincoln "My right to swing my fist ends where
> > your nose begins."
> >
> > I have not found any justification for these attributions.
> >
> > The Yale Book of Quotations provides an excellent citation in 1919.
> > <Begin excerpt>
> > Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
> > U.S. legal scholar, 1885=961957
> > Each side takes the position of the man who was arrested for swinging
> > his arms and hitting another in the nose, and asked the judge if he
> > did not have a right to swing his arms in a free country. "Your right
> > to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins."
> > Harvard Law Review, June 1919
> > <End excerpt>
> >
> > There are multiple matches before 1919. Versions of the saying were
> > used by temperance campaigners and school administrators. The earliest
> > instance I have located so far is found within a pro-temperance joke
> > told in 1894:
> >
> > Cite: 1894, Thirteenth International Christian Endeavor Convention,
> > [Held in Saengerfest Hall and Tent, Cleveland, Ohio, July 11-15,
> > 1894], Heroes of Faith: Address of Rev. A.C. Dixon, Page 95, Published
> > by United Society of Christian Endeavor, Boston, Massachusetts.
> > (Google Books full view)
> >
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=3DGaBVAAAAYAAJ&q=3D%22nose+begins%22#v=
> =3Dsnippet&
> >
> > <Begin excerpt>
> > A drunken man was going down the street in Baltimore flinging his
> > hands right and left, when one of his arms came across the nose of a
> > passer-by. The passer-by instinctively clenched his fist and sent the
> > intruder sprawling to the ground. He got up, rubbing the place where
> > he was hit, and said, "I would like to know if this is not a land of
> > liberty." "It is," said the other fellow; "but I want you to
> > understand that your liberty ends just where my nose begins."
> > [Laughter and Applause.]
> > <End excerpt>
> >
> > I would appreciate any earlier cites. Also, direct evidence of a
> > interesting/prominent person using the saying would be welcome.
> > Garson
> >
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