[Ads-l] Jean-Baptiste Colbert Quotation

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Back in December 2017 Fred Shapiro asked about a quotation concerning
taxation, and I replied. Since April 17th is tax day in the U.S this
year. I decided to create an entry for the Quote Investigator website.

Taxation Is the Art of Plucking the Goose without Making It Squeal
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/04/16/tax/

[Begin acknowledgement]
Great thanks to Tonia Cistulli, Edward Troup, and Fred Shapiro whose
inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this
exploration. Shapiro pointed to citations in 1919 and 1888.
[End acknowledgement]

Feedback welcome

Garson


On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 1:36 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> I researched this topic in October, and was planning to post the
> results in April (for U.S. tax season). But it makes sense to quickly
> share some information now, and obtain help from list members.
>
> I pushed back the Jean-Baptiste Colbert citation to 1884.
> http://books.google.com/books?id=OC0QAAAAYAAJ&q=goose#v=snippet&
>
> But the research pointed to another Frenchman named Turgot who wrote a
> pertinent letter to David Hume in 1766.
>
> [ref] 1914, Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of
> Riches by Turgot, (Quotation is in appendix and not in main text),
> Section: Appendix: Excerpts from Turgot's Correspondence, Letter from
> Turgot to Hume on September 7, 1766, Start Page 102, Quote Page 103,
> The Macmillan Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=Li4oAAAAYAAJ&q=+pluck#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> You know, also, as well as I do, what is the great aim of all the
> governments of the earth: obedience and money. The object is, as the
> saying goes, to pluck the hen without making it cry out; but it is the
> proprietors who cry out, and the government has always preferred to
> attack them indirectly, because then they do not perceive the harm
> until after the matter has become law...
> [End excerpt]
>
> The French version of the letter was published by 1849.
>
> [ref] 1849, Letters of Eminent Persons Addressed to David Hume,
> William Blackwood and Sons, Ediinburgh. [/ref]
> https://books.google.com/books?id=lAERAAAAYAAJ
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> ... vous savez aussi tout comme moi quel est le grand but de tous
> gouvernemens de la terre—Soumission et argent. On cherche, comme on
> dit, à plumer la poule sans la faire crier—or, ce sont les
> propriétaires qui crient, et l'on a toujours mieux aimé les attaquer
> indirectment, parce qu'alors ils ne s'aperçoivent du mal que quand la
> chose a passé en droit...
> [End excerpt]
>
> I also found that "pluck the fowl without making it cry" seems to be a
> French idiom for financial chicanery.
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 12:55 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>> In the Yale Book of Quotations, I included the quotation by Jean-Baptiste Colbert beginning (in translation) "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure ... "  I cited this from a 1919 secondary source.
>>
>>
>> I am told by a correspondent that occurrences of this quotation in Google Books go back at least to 1888.  Can anyone help me push it back further, in either French or English?
>>
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org