[Ads-l] Unsourced quotation

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is an excerpt from a pertinent article about this family of
sayings on the Quote Investigator website.

How Can I Know What I Think Till I See What I Say?
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/12/11/know-say/

[Begin excerpt from QI article - mention of boldface type has been deleted]
The earliest match known to QI appeared in the 1926 book “The Art of
Thought” by Graham Wallas who was Professor Emeritus of Political
Science at the University of London. Wallas suggested that the
processes of thinking and expressing were entangled for the poet
because the precise selection of words was crucial to success. Wallas
attributed the saying under examination to an anonymous young girl:[1]

[Begin nested quotation]
The little girl had the making of a poet in her who, being told to be
sure of her meaning before she spoke, said, “How can I know what I
think till I see what I say?” A modern professed thinker must,
however, sooner or later in the process of thought, make the conscious
effort of expression, with all its risks.
[End nested quotation]

The next match known to QI appeared in the 1927 book “Aspects Of The
Novel” by the prominent literary figure E. M. Forster who discussed
the recent novel “Les Faux Monnayeurs” (“The Counterfeiters”) by André
Gide. Gide’s complex work employed a novel-within-a-novel framework,
and its plot was presented via fragments. Forster stated that the
novel was “all to pieces logically”.

In the following passage, Forster attributed the saying under
examination to an old lady in an anecdote. The phrase “distinguished
critic” was a humorous reference to the old lady:[2]

[Begin nested quotation]
Another distinguished critic has agreed with Gide—that old lady in the
anecdote who was accused by her nieces of being illogical. For some
time she could not be brought to understand what logic was, and when
she grasped its true nature she was not so much angry as contemptuous.
“Logic! Good gracious! What rubbish!” she exclaimed. “How can I tell
what I think till I see what I say?” Her nieces, educated young women,
thought that she was passée; she was really more up to date than they
were.
[End nested quotation]
[End excerpt from QI article]

Thus, the saying was popularized by both Graham Wallas and E. M.
Forster although both disclaimed credit for authorship. Instead, the
words were ascribed to two anonymous figures: a little girl and an old
lady. The saying has also been attributed to Gide. The passage above
is not easy to parse. But QI believes that the attribution to Gide is
based on a misreading of Forster.

[1] 1926 Copyright, The Art of Thought by Graham Wallas (Professor
Emeritus of Political Science at the University of London), Chapter 4:
Stages of Control, Quote Page 106, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New
York. (Verified with scans)

[2] 1927 Copyright, Aspects Of The Novel by E. M. Forster, Chapter 5:
The Plot, Quote Page 152, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York.
(Verified with scans)

Citation number [1] is listed in “The Yale Book of Quotations”.

Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

On Sun, Jan 22, 2023 at 12:45 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Arnold Zwicky writes in his blog
> https://arnoldzwicky.org/2023/01/17/the-bearded-cartoonist-post-simectomy/#more-125699
> (last two paragraphs):
>
> >>>>>
> Famously, Flannery O’Connor is quoted as explaining: “I write because I
> don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”
>
> So she is quoted, again and again, but never with an actual source that I
> can find. However, the leading idea in her quote has been expressed in
> various ways by a considerable number of writers in citable places, among
> them George Bernard Shaw, Stephen King, William Faulkner, and Joan Didion.
> Didion’s pithy version: “I don’t know what I think until I write it down”.
> <<<<<
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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