"two reasons for doing anything"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your question, JL, and thanks for the excellent cite, Fred.
Here is a variant of the saying tailored to women in 1921. (The word
"the" before "the reason" is italicized.)

[ref] 1921, Ghosts: A Samuel Lyle Mystery Story  by Arthur Crabb,
Quote Page 48, The Century Co., New York. (Google Books Full View)
link [/ref]

http://books.google.com/books?id=7pIiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22has+two%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
A woman, it has been said, always has two reasons for everything - a
good reason and the reason.
[End excerpt]

Traveling backward in time one finds a precursor in 1881 that may have
evolved into the 1921 saying.

[ref] 1881 copyright, Illustrious Men and Their Achievements; Or, The
People's Book of Biography  by James Parton, Chapter: Algernon Sidney,
Start Page 807, Quote Page 813, The Arundle Print, New York. (Google
Books Full View) link [/ref]

http://books.google.com/books?id=npozAQAAMAAJ&q=%22often+has%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
A witty French author, descanting upon the foibles of the fair sex,
remarks that a woman often has two reasons for her conduct: First, the
reason; secondly, the reason that she gives.

It is no more true of women than of men.
[End excerpt]

Here is an instance from the same author in 1872.

[ref] 1872, Triumphs of Enterprise, Ingenuity, and Public Spirit by
James Parton, Chapter: "Life, Trial, and Execution of Algernon
Sidney", Start Page 601, Quote Page 607, Virtue & Yorston, Chicago,
Illinois. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
A witty French author, descanting upon the foibles of the fair sex,
remarks that a woman often has two reasons for her conduct: First, the
reason; secondly, the reason that she gives.
[End excerpt]

Clearly, time is needed to research the evolution of this interesting
family of sayings. This is a preliminary glance that may help others.

Garson


On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 8:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks for the citation, Fred. But it isn't in the index under "reason."
>
> JL
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 8:38 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The Yale Book of Quotations has the following:
>>
>> A man always has two reasons for what he does -- a good one, and the real
>> one.
>> J. P. Morgan, Quoted in Owen Wister, Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship
>> (1930)
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>> Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
>> Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 8:27 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
>>
>> On Feb 10, 2014, at 8:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> > I don't see this in the archives, though I've been thinking about it for
>> a
>> > long time.
>> >
>> > Many years ago I was told that Sigmund Freud had once said, "There are
>> > always two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real
>> reason."
>> >
>> > Sounds like Freud in principle, but not in style.
>> >
>> > Google Books wants to attribute it to J. P. Morgan, but Morgan died in
>> 1913
>> > and the "reported" quote doesn't show up till 1940.
>> >
>> > A few minutes ago I was watching a short film on TCM called "Teddy the
>> > Rough Rider" (1947). It shows Theodore Roosevelt insisting, "A man always
>> > has two reasons for whatever he does: a good one and the real one."
>> >
>> > This attribution is presumably bogus as well, but evidently the quote
>> > gained traction in the 1940s.
>> >
>> Or three reasons for doing anything--the right reason, the wrong reason,
>> and the Army reason?
>>
>> LH
>>
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>
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