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I find it unlikely the first person to express that concept was born in the 20th century. Some places say Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe)
by towlejunior 11y ago
I find it unlikely the first person to express that concept was born in the 20th century.
Some places say Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe). If I had to guess, though, it's hundreds or thousands of years old.
- DanBC 11y agoIt's attributed to Hopper. If you can find it anywhere before July 1986 we can change the wikiquote page. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper Disney used it in a slightly modified form: "Better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission."
- towlejunior 11y agoThat's the thing. There's no particular flourish that makes her version remarkable. It's just a sentence.
- DanBC 11y agoExcept she said it first, and versions of it have appeared since she said it, but not before she said it. Telling me that it's just a sentence isn't persuasive in any way. Showing me something mostly similar from before 1986 would do a lot more to persuade me.
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- towlejunior 11y agoNor is telling me "it's attributed to Grace Hopper." It's a special kind of hell to google something for 20 minutes, return, and have someone throw you a Wikipedia link. Oh, you don't know who the Beechers are. They're from the 1800s.
- bboreham 11y ago> “It is easier to get forgiveness than permission” appears earlier in Arthur Bloch, Murphy’s Law Book Two (1980) http://freakonomics.com/2010/06/24/quotes-uncovered-forgiveness-permission-and-awesomeness/ http://freakonomics.com/2010/06/24/quotes-uncovered-forgiven...