[Ads-l] a fool or a liar

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yes, but the primary cites imply only a limited, contextual fool or liar,
not a chronic or congenital one like, well, some politicians.

JL

On Fri, Dec 22, 2023 at 7:59 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> —presumably allowing in each case for both qualities being possessed.  But
> none of these make inclusivity explicit as did John Stuart Mill (1867:512)
> for an analogous disjunction:
>
> If we assert that a man who has acted in a particular way must be either a
> knave or a fool, we by no means assert, or intend to assert, that
> he cannot be both.
>
> 1867. John Stuart Mill. An examination of Sir William Hamilton.s
> philosophy, 3rd Edition. Longman, London.
>
> (Feel free to insert the name of your favorite political leader as a test
> case.)
>
> LH
>
> > On Dec 22, 2023, at 6:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >
> > 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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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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