[Ads-l] Request help verifying quotation of polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The inquiry about the words spoken by Fridtjof Nansen in 1925 has now
been resolved, and the website entry has been updated. Great thanks to
Stephen Goranson and the Duke University library system. Stephen was
able to examine two of the citations.

Garson

On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 10:42 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
. . .
> Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen used a version of the saying,
> and "The Yale Book of Quotations" has a 1939 attribution to him.  This
> message is a request for help in verifying the precise details and
> metadata for a remark made by Nansen circa 1925 to fellow delegates
> during an assembly of the League of Nations.
>
> The quotation apparently was printed in three different documents. The
> partial information below is based on matches in Google Books and
> HathiTrust:
>
> Year: 1925 (Conjectural)
> Title: Verbatim Record
> Author: League of Nations. Assembly
> Volumes 4-6, Page 10
> Published in Geneva, Switzerland
> (Google Books Snippet View; data not yet verified)
>
> Short link: http://bit.ly/1GyHgxQ
> Full link: https://books.google.com/books?id=m8_mAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22difficult+is%22
>
> [Begin extracted text]
> The President. -- Dr. Nansen, delegate for Norway, will address the Assembly.
>
> Dr. Nansen (Norway): Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen -- The
> wonderfully eloquent speech which we have just heard reminds me of the
> definition of the difference between the difficult and the impossible.
> The difficult is that which can be done at once: the impossible is
> that which takes a little longer.
> [End extracted text]
>

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