Proverb: Good behavior is the last refuge of mediocrity - question about cite

[Garson O'Toole]

The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs is now the benchmark reference in
the area of modern proverbs. It is wonderful. Thanks to Charlie, Fred,
and Wolfgang Mieder for their fantastic efforts.

The entry for “Good behavior is the last refuge of mediocrity” appears
on page 18. The first cite is “1940 Albert Jay Nock, Meditations on
Wall Street (New York: W. Morrow)”.

This may actually be a reference to a book with a very similar title
that I came across while researching another quotation. The book
“Meditations in Wall Street” was published in 1940 by William Morrow &
Company with an introduction by economics writer Albert Jay Nock. When
the book was originally released the name of the author was kept a
mystery. In 1947 the New York Times stated that the author’s identity
was Henry S. Haskins.

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/01/11/what-lies-within/

If there is evidence that Nock is the true author I would love to hear it.

Garson

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