[Ads-l] "two reasons for doing anything"

Thu Nov 3 20:59:42 UTC 2016

Victor Davis Hanson, _The Father of Us All_ (N.Y.: Bloomsbury, 2010), p.
35:

"Fifth-century Greek historians largely introduced into the Greek
vocabulary the binary _prophasis_ and _aitia_ - the pretext and the real
cause, often to emphasize that what military leaders claimed were
understandable provocations were not, or at least not believable ones."

I suspect Herodotus or (more likely?) Thucydides.

JL

On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> 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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> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > "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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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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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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