[Ads-l] Adage: It's Easier To Ask Forgiveness Than To Get Permission

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The saying in the subject line was discussed on the Freakonomics blog
back in 2010. At the time I shared two citations. Stephen Goranson
helped to verify a citation with hardcopy. Fred told me about a 1966
citation via email.

http://freakonomics.com/2010/06/24/quotes-uncovered-forgiveness-permission-and-awesomeness/

Barry Popik explored the topic in 2011:

https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/it_is_much_easier_to_apologize_than_it_is_to_get_permission/

The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs has an entry which verifies a key
citation in 1966.

Now I've finally created an entry. The first match listed is dated
1846 although the statement is not quite in proverbial form.

It’s Easier To Ask Forgiveness Than To Get Permission
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/06/19/forgive/

[Begin acknowledgement]
Great thanks to Claudia, William Flesch, and Nick Rollins whose
inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this
exploration. Some citations were previously shared by QI in 2010 on
the Freakonomics website. Thanks to Barry Popik, Bill Mullins, Fred
Shapiro, and Herb Stahlke for their research and comments. Further
thanks to Stephen Goranson for his research and for his verification
of the February 1971 citation.
[End acknowledgement]

Garson

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