famous quote syntactically mangled, nobody notices

[Garson O'Toole]

The Yale Book of Quotations and The Quote Verifier have cites in 1871.

Here is a link to a book published in 1866. The quotation is in the
table of contents, on page 364, and on page 366. The quote on 366 has
an asterisk and at the bottom of the page it says "His words".

1866, Surry of Eagle's-nest: or, The Memoirs of a Staff-Officer
Serving in Virginia, Edited from the Mss. of Colonel Surry by John
Esten Cooke

http://books.google.com/books?id=q3WJJHXaqWEC&q=%22so+terrible%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
General Lee's face filled with blood, and his eye flashed. Turning to
one of his generals, who stood near, he said, as he drew his old
riding-cape around his shoulders:
"It is well this is so terrible-we would grow too fond of it!"*

* His words.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 1:39 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: famous quote syntactically mangled, nobody notices
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 6/30/2012 1:16 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      famous quote syntactically mangled, nobody notices
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> A famous remark attributed to Gen. Robert E. Lee is
>> the epigrammatic feature of the "Introduction" to Frank McAdams's _The
>> American War Film_ (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2002).
>>
>> Lee is said by an early biographer to have commented at the battle of
>> Fredericksburg that "It is well that this is so terrible! we should grow
>> too fond of it!"  Modern renditions usually phrase it as "...war is so
>> terrible, else..."  or something similar.
>>
>> The problem I have with McAdams's version is not its accuracy but its
>> impossible syntax, missed by author, editor, and copy editor of an academic
>> publication:
>>
>> "It is well that war is so terrible, that we should grow too fond of it."
>>
>> I find this construction incredible, particularly since, if anything, it
>> seems to say that we *should* grow too fond of it.  Or is it just me?
> --
>
> I agree.
>
> These days are there really any editors? (Of course even with good and
> multiple editors silly errors slide by.)
>
> The last version above (the 'incredible' one) appears on the Web several
> times (sometimes with "good" for "well" etc.), one instance dated 1997.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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