[Ads-l] Groucho--really?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, G.

JL

On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 6:54 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> The linkage to Groucho in 1972 was oddly phrased, and it was possible
> that the columnist Rufus W. Gosnell was asserting that the quotation
> represented Groucho's philosophy, but not his words. Perhaps Gosnell
> was claiming credit for the words.
>
> [ref] 1972 August 30, Aiken Standard, Here's Rufus by Rufus W.
> Gosnell, Quote Page 1-B, Column 5, Aiken, South Carolina.
> (Newspapers_com)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Each morning when I open my eyes, I say to myself; "I, not events,
> have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which
> it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have
> just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." That's a system
> that has worked for Groucho Marx for a long time; try it.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 4:20 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > JL: Here is a 1712 match with "the future is yet unborn, and the past
> > is dead" and "present time alone is ours".
> >
> > Year: 1765 Reprint
> > Periodical: The Spectator In Eight Volumes (Carefully Revised and
> Corrected)
> > Editors: Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
> > Volume 4
> > Number 316
> > Printed for D. Williams and P. Dods in the Strand, London
> > Monday, March 3, 1712 (Monday based on Julian Calendar)
> > [By Mr. Budgel.]
> > Start Page 295, Quote Page 297
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > To-morrow is still the fatal time when all is to be rectified;
> > to-morrow comes, it goes, and still I please myself with the shadow,
> > whilst I lose the reality; unmindful that the present time alone is
> > ours, the future is yet unborn, and the past is dead, and can only
> > live (as parents in their children) in the actions it has produced.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 1:28 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> 1869  _Putnam's Monthly Magazine_ (Jan.) 106: Now is the solitary point
> of
> >> interest for us. The Past is dead; the Future is unborn; this Present is
> >> all that lives!
> >>
> >> Perhaps Fred or Garson has something earlier....
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 1:14 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> > On Mar 10, 2017, at 12:39 PM, GEOFFREY NUNBERG <nunbergg at GMAIL.COM>
> >>> wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> > The following quotation is widely ascribed to Groucho Marx:
> >>> >
> >>> >> I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I
> can
> >>> choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived
> yet. I
> >>> have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
> >>> >
> >>> > I suppose it’s not impossible that Groucho said such a thing in his
> sad
> >>> dotage, but the tenor is awfully un-Marxian.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Yes, it certainly doesn’t seem to sit well with the other classic
> Marxist
> >>> doctrines, e.g. “Why a duck”, “…Inside of a dog it’s too dark to
> read”, and
> >>> of course the philosophers’ favorite, “I wouldn’t want to belong to any
> >>> club that would have me as a member”
> >>>
> >>> LH
> >>>
> >>> > Can anybody help to trace the actual source of the quote—or what’s
> >>> really more interesting (if I’m right), its first misattribution?
> >>> >
> >>> > Geoff
> >>> >
> >>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"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