"two reasons for doing anything"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Amazing work, Garson.

BTW, I wrote 1913 when I meant 1943. Sorry, J. P.!

So the eyes are going as well as the rest....

JL


On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:34 AM, 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"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> You mean there's one index entry for "reason" and another for "reasons"?
>
> Fiendish.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 11:54 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Feb 10, 2014, at 10:35 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> >
> > > You're a tough guy to please, Jon.  It is in the index under "reasons."
> >
> > Or as Pascal once (almost) said, somewhere in the YBQ, "L'index a ses
> > 'raisons' que la raison ne connait pas."
> >
> > LH
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> > Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> > > Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 8:45 PM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > 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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> > truth."
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>
>
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> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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