Quote: Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. (Attrib Abraham Lincoln)

Mon Feb 10 17:05:28 UTC 2014

Barry has updated his entry on this topic with some additional
valuable citations. For example, he has a 1901 cite for the following
thematically related expression:

[Begin excerpt]
Time spent in sharpening the axe may well be spared from swinging it.
[End excerpt]

http://bit.ly/1kslPEe

Thanks for your response, Dan. The citation you gave does provide an
intriguing contrast.

Garson

On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 5:32 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend
>               the first four sharpening the axe. (Attrib Abraham Lincoln)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> FYI, I find this quote interesting because there is a long-standing quote
> taking a contrary position:
>
> "If the iron is blunt whet the edge, but do not always be sharpening the
> axe and never using it."
>
> Annual Report of the State Department of Health of New York for the Year
> Ending December 31 (1909)
> http://books.google.com/books?id=53oXAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22sharpening%20the%20axe%22&pg=PA652#v=onepage&q=%22sharpening%20the%20axe%22&f=false
>
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 10:55 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Quote: Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will
>> spend the
>>               first four sharpening the axe. (Attrib Abraham Lincoln)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The quotation given in the subject line probably was not spoken or
>> written by Abraham Lincoln, and I have been asked to explore its
>> provenance.
>>
>> Barry Popik has performed excellent work tracing this saying back to
>> 1983. Here is a link:
>>
>> http://bit.ly/1kslPEe
>>
>> In my initial search I have found matches for a version of the saying
>> with time measured in minutes instead of hours starting in the 1950s.
>> Some of these citations are unverified matches in Google Books
>> (visible only as snippets). Hence, I may contact individuals off-list
>> for help in verification.
>>
>> GB has matches in documents with GB dates of 1953, 1955, and 1956, but
>> I suspect that the two earlier dates are inaccurate, and all the
>> matches lead to the same document. Below is my best guess of the
>> accurate bibliographic data:
>>
>>
>> Title: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the New York State
>> Horticultural Society.
>> Author: American Pomological Society.
>> Year: 1956
>> Volume: 70
>> Quote Page: 259
>> (Google Books snippet data may be inaccurate)
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=QnUPAQAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22to+chop%22
>>
>> [Begin extracted text]
>> I heard somebody once say that if he were given five minutes to chop
>> down the biggest tree in all of the northwest, or pay with his life,
>> he would spend three of those five minutes sharpening his axe; and I
>> think that that's the thing to do.
>> [End extracted text]
>>
>>
>> Title: Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies
>> Author: Farm Foundation (Chicago, Ill.), National Committee on
>> Agricultural Policy
>> Year: 1956
>> Quote Page: 12
>> (Google Books snippet data may be inaccurate)
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=aJhYAAAAYAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22to+chop%22
>>
>> [Begin extracted text]
>> A woodsman was once asked, "What would you do if you had just five
>> minutes to chop down a tree?" He answered, "I would spend the first
>> two and a half minutes sharpening my axe."
>> [End extracted text]
>>
>>
>> Here is instance attributed to Abraham Lincoln circa 1960. This
>> version uses minutes not hours.
>>
>> Journal: Roads and Streets
>> Uniform Title: Bituminous roads and streets
>> Year: 1960
>> Volume: 103
>> Quote Page: 363
>> Publisher: Chicago, Gillette Pub. Co.
>> (Google Books snippet data may be inaccurate; text not visible in snippet)
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=hqkmAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22to+chop%22
>>
>> [Begin extracted text]
>> Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said, "If I had five minutes to
>> chop down a tree, I'd spend the first three sharpening my axe."
>> [End extracted text]
>>
>>
>> Here is an instance from NewspaperArchive in 1962. The words are
>> attributed to an anonymous lumberjack by the prominent football coach
>> Darrell Royal.
>>
>> [ref] 1962 February 8, Port Arthur News Time Out with Corlis Holt
>> (News Sports Editor), Quote Page 16, Column 1, (NArch Page 31), Port
>> Arthur, Texas. (NewspaperArchive)[/ref]
>>
>> [Begin extracted text]
>> Royal recalled "in Washington I met a lumberjack who said that if he
>> were given five minutes to chop down a tree or lose his life if he
>> failed to do so, he'd spend three of the five minutes sharpening his
>> axe."
>> [End extracted text]
>>
>>
>> In 1963 the New York Giants quarterback Y. A. Tittle spoke at an
>> athletic banquet and employed a version of the saying.
>>
>> [ref] 1963 February 26, Salt Lake Tribune, Tittle Wows Ute Banquet by
>> John Mooney (Tribune Sports Editor), Quote Page 16, Column 6, Salt
>> Lake City, Utah. (NewspaperArchive)[/ref]
>>
>> [Begin extracted text]
>> "PREPARATION -- If a woodchopper was given just five minutes to chop
>> down a tree or lose his life, he better spend three minutes sharpening
>> his ax.
>> [End extracted text]
>>
>> Garson
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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