[Ads-l] Quote: We are taught to fly in the air like birds =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=A6_?=but how to live on the earth we do not know" (Request)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Great; excellent find, Stephen. There appear to be two works by
Lothrop Stoddard containing the quotation. Here is some metadata and
extracted text.

Year: 1925
Book Title: Social Classes in Post-War Europe
Author: Lothrop Stoddard
Quote Page 26
Database: Google Books Snippet View; data may be inaccurate and should
be verified on paper

[Begin extracted text]
Not long ago Maxim Gorky stated that the Russian peasant profoundly
hates the town and all its inhabitants. According to the Russian
muzhik, the city is the source of all evil. Modern "progress" does not
appeal to him, the intellectuals and their inventions being regarded
with deep suspicion. Gorky relates how, after addressing a peasant
audience on the subject of science and the marvels of technical
inventions, he was criticized by a peasant spokesman in the following
manner: "Yes, yes, we are taught to fly in the air like birds, and to
swim in the water like the fishes; but how to live on the earth we
don't know." In Gorky's opinion Russia's future lies in peasant hands.
[End extracted text]

Year: 1926
Book: Scientific Humanism
Author: Lothrop Stoddard
Publisher: C. Scribner's Sons,
Quote Page 133
Database: Google Books Snippet View; data may be inaccurate and should
be verified on paper

[Begin extracted text]
Gorky relates how, after addressing a peasant audience on the subject
of science and the marvels of technical inventions, he was criticized
by a peasant spokesman in the following manner: "Yes, yes, we are
taught to fly in the air like birds, and to swim in the water like the
fishes; but how to live on the earth we don't know." In Gorky's
opinion Russia's future lies in peasant hands. Ultimately they will be
Russia's masters.
[End extracted text]

Here is a Russian statement that, strangely enough, is attributed to
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
https://ok.ru/greatword/topic/64117951638330

{Begin excerpt]
Мы научились летать в воздухе, как птицы, плавать в воде, как рыбы,
теперь нам осталось научиться только жить, как люди. Антуан де
Сент-Экзюпери
[End excerpt]

{Begin Google Translate]
We have learned to fly the air like birds, swim in the water like a
fish, now we have to learn to live only as human beings. Antoine de
Saint-Exupery
[End Google Translate]

Garson

On Sun, Jul 17, 2016 at 7:42 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> According to a hathitrust search p. 26 of the book listed below seems a likely suspect.
>
>
> Stephen
>
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
>
>
> Social classes in post-war Europe.
> Main Author: Stoddard, Lothrop, 1883-1950<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22Stoddard,%20Lothrop,%201883-1950%22&type=author&inst=> Language(s): English Published: London, C. Scribner's sons, 1925.
> Subjects: Europe<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22%20Europe%22&type=subject&inst=> > Social conditions<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22%20Europe%20Social%20conditions%22&type=subject&inst=>
> Physical Description: 178 p. 22 cm.
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <...>
> Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2016 11:49 PM
> To: ...
> Subject: [ADS-L] Quote: We are taught to fly in the air like birds … but how to live on the earth we do not know" (Request)
>
> The following words have implausibly been attributed to George Bernard Shaw:
>
> Now that we have learned to fly the air like birds, swim under water
> like fish, we lack one thing - to learn to live on earth as human
> beings.
>
> I received a request to explore the provenance of the expression, and
> the earliest match I've found was written by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
> and pointed to an unnamed peasant recorded by Maxim Gorky.
>
> Year: 1929
> Title: Kalki: Or, The Future of Civilization
> Author: Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
> Quote Page 9
> Publisher: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, London
> Database: Google Books Snippet View; data may be inaccurate and should
> be verified on paper
>

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