[Ads-l] a fool or a liar

[Jonathan Lighter]

The 1943 ex. is now a military cliche'.

1749 Philip Skelton _Ophiomaches_ (London: A. Millar) I 254: He...that says
he loves others better than himself, is either a fool, or a liar.

1868 _The World_ (N.Y.C.) (Nov. 6) 1: The man who says he can feel an
earthquake without fear is either a fool or a liar.

1898 in Constance Gardner _Augustus Peabody Gardner_  (Cambridge. Mass.:
Riverside Press, 1919) 6:   I can’t help being glad the war is over. Any
man who has been under a hot fire and says he was not afraid is either a
fool or a liar.

1943 _Philadelphia Inquirer_ (May 20) 4:  He says he was scared. He says
that any man who isn't scared is either a fool or a liar.


JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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