[Ads-l] Never complain, never explain.

Tue Oct 4 02:08:22 UTC 2022

The book in question is The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. I, by John Morley (1903), https://books.google.com/books?id=MgY3AQAAMAAJ.  The passage describes a view expressed by Lord Lyndhurst (John Singleton Copley):  “Never defend yourself before a popular assemblage, except with and by retorting the attack; the hearers, in the pleasure which the assault gives them, will forget the previous charge.”  Morley then says “As Disraeli himself put it afterwards, _Never complain and never explain._”  So it is not clear exactly when Disraeli so summarized Lyndhurst’s view, although it might have been in a letter to Disraeli’s sister that Morley mentions.

John Baker

From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Pete Morris
Sent: Monday, October 3, 2022 9:41 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Never complain, never explain.

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Here's a 1903 article that attributes the phrase to Disraeli, and
cites a source.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Review_of_Reviews_for_Australasia/D29PAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22never+complain%22+%22never+explain%22&dq=%22never+complain%22+%22never+explain%22&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Review_of_Reviews_for_Australasia/D29PAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22never+complain%22+%22never+explain%22&dq=%22never+complain%22+%22never+explain%22&printsec=frontcover>

Never defend yourself before a popular assemblage, except with
and by retorting the attack ; the hearers , in the pleasure which the
assault gives them , will forget the previous charge . ” As Disraeli
himself put it afterwards , Never complain and never explain .
-- ( Vol . 1 , p . 122)

It's not possible to tell from snippet view, Vol 1 of what. I think
it's worth checking out, if it is an authentic Disraeli quote. Or, if
not, then at least a pre-1903 source.

------ Original Message ------
From "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU<mailto:fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date 03/10/2022 16:36:16
Subject Re: Never complain, never explain.

>The ever-helpful New Yale Book of Quotations traces "Never complain and never explain" to a 1903 source.
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>>
>Sent: Monday, October 3, 2022 9:53 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
>Subject: Never complain, never explain.
>
>A cursory Google Search doesn't indicate to me that Garson's investigated
>this increasingly common proverb. (Apologies if I've overlooked something.)
>Here it's attributed - at fourth hand - to William H. Seward. The immediate
>attribution is to William Howard Taft, who is said to have heard the
>anecdote from his father.
>
>1910 _Morning Oregonian_ (Portland, Ore.) (Nov. 27) 4: Seward answered:
>'Early in my political life I made it a rule never to reply to personal
>criticism, never to defend myself from political attack. That rule I have
>followed faithfully. I never complain, and I never explain, and I feel that
>my adherence to this rule has made me what I am." ... "Never complain;
>never explain" has been Mr. Taft's personal rule of conduct ever since he
>became a public servant.
>
>And Lieutenant Colonel John Baynes of the British Army recalled hat it was
>in common use during the Great War:
>
>1967 J. Baynes _Morale_ (London: Cassell, 1967) 191: Officers and men in
>those days used the expression, in respect of earning the displeasure of
>their seniors, "never complain; never explain." The Scottish soldier stuck
>to this, and in nine cases out of ten accepted his punishment without a
>word.
>
>In the first case, the advice is not to lower oneself by replying to
>carping critics. In the second, it's a defense against a superior's ire.
>
>Nowadays, my impression is that it's most often recommended as a way of
>maintaining the look of authority while keeping other people in the dark.
>It certainly seemed that way when I heard it in the '90s.
>
>Earlier exx. may be findable.
>
>JL
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth.
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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