“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

The quote “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” is often mistakenly attributed to the Irish lawyer and politician John Philpot Curran and frequently to Thomas Jefferson.

In fact, Curran’s line was somewhat different. What he actually said, in a speech in Dublin on July 10, 1790, was:

       “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.”

And, according to Jefferson scholars there is “no evidence to confirm that Thomas Jefferson ever said or wrote, ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’ or any of its variants.”

Traditionally, the most famous use of “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” that’s included in books of quotations is from a speech made by the American Abolitionist and liberal activist Wendell Phillips on January 28, 1852.

Speaking to members of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society that day, Phillips said:

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either form human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.”

However, Anna Berkes, a research librarian at the Jefferson Library, has discovered uses that predate Phillips’ speech.

In a post on the Jefferson Library blog, Berkes wrote:

“Not to be mean to Mr. Wendell Phillips, but he’s about to get slightly less famous. After two days of ridiculously feverish searching, I’ve traced the purported Phillips version of this quote all the way back to 1809.  (For the record, Mr. Phillips was -2 years old at that time.)”

Berkes noted that, in a biography of Major General James Jackson published in 1809, author Thomas Charlton used the same words, just in a different order. Charlton wrote that that one of the obligations of biographers of famous people is “fastening upon the minds of the American people the belief, that ‘the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.’”

Berkes also found several news articles that include the more familiar version of the line as later used by Phillips.

For example, an article in the May 2, 1833 edition of The Virginia Free Press and Farmers' Repository says:

“Some one has justly remarked, that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’ Let the sentinels on the watch-tower sleep not, and slumber not.”

One of the news articles she found, in the January 4, 1838 edition of the Pennsylvania Inquirer and Daily Courier, uses the same quote and attributes it to Thomas Jefferson — one of the earliest sources to do so.

Berkes reiterated that the consensus of Jefferson scholars is that he never spoke or wrote the words “‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

She also concluded that, although Wendell Phillips still gets credit for the most famous use of that phrase, it was already a well-known saying prior to his speech in 1852.

Many witty variations on this old saying have been created since then. My personal favorite is by the novelist Aldous Huxley. In an  introduction to the 1965 radio version of his novel Brave New World, Huxley said: “Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty; eternal vigilance is the price of human decency.”

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Related reading: books of quotations about liberty and freedom…

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

You may or may not be a fan of the Eighties TV series The A-Team, but you probably know the famous catchphrase from the show:

       “I love it when a plan comes together.”

It was used frequently throughout the show’s five-season run from 1983 to 1986 by the team’s cigar-chomping leader, Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, played by actor George Peppard.

Peppard first uttered the line in the 2-hour pilot episode “Mexican Slayride,” which originally aired on January 23, 1983 as an NBC “Sunday Night Movie.”

The first regular one-hour episode of The A-Team aired the following week, on January 30, 1983, following the Superbowl. After that, the show moved to a Tuesday 8pm time slot.

Other members of Hannibal’s team of good-guy mercenaries included: Templeton “Face” Peck, played by Dirk Benedict throughout the regular series but by Tim Dunigan in the pilot; “Howling Mad” Murdock, played by Dwight Schultz; and, Boscoe “B.A.” (for “Bad Attitude”) Baracus, memorably played by Mr. T.

Naturally, Peppard’s catchphrase in the A-Team TV series was resurrected and used several times in the A-Team movie released in 2010, which starred Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith.

Some people assume that the A-Team series is also the origin of another well-known catchphrase — Mr. T’s famous line “I pity the fool.” 

In fact, that line was first used by Mr. T in the 1982 movie Rocky III, in which he played Rocky’s boxing opponent “Clubber” Lang.

According to the A-Team experts (i.e., hardcore fans who have watched and rewatched the entire series) Mr. T never said “I pity the fool” in any of the 98 episodes of the show.

I’m willing to take their word for it.

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Related viewing and reading…

How a political backlash turned “a grand old rag” into “a Grand Old Flag”...

On January 19, 1906, American composer, playwright and performer George M. Cohan copyrighted a new song he’d written titled “You’re a Grand Old Rag.”

It was one of the songs Cohan created for his upcoming Broadway musical George Washington, Jr.

The chorus of the song went like this:

      “You’re a grand old rag,
       You’re a high flying flag
       And forever in peace may you wave.
       You’re the emblem of
       The land I love. 
       The home of the free and the brave.
       Ev’ry heart beats true
       Under Red, White and Blue,
       Where there’s never a boast or brag.
       But should auld acquaintance be forgot,
       Keep your eye on the grand old rag.”

On February 6, 1906, “You’re a Grand Old Rag” was recorded as a 78 RPM single by the popular singer Billy Murray.

That same week, the musical premiered at The Herald Square Theater in New York City. Cohan himself was the star and the highlight of the show was his rendition of “You’re a Grand Old Rag” as he marched up and down carrying an American flag.

Although George Washington Jr. and singer Billy Murray’s recording were both big hits, many critics, military veterans and groups complained that “You’re a Grand Old Rag” was disrespectful to the American flag. They said it shouldn’t be referred to as a “rag.”

This political backlash surprised and bothered Cohan.

He explained that patriotism was a main theme of the musical and that he actually got the phrase “grand old rag” from an old Army veteran.

However, he was sensitive to the criticism and ultimately decided to change the song’s name and lyrics, as noted on a page about the song on the Library of Congress website:

The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, “She’s a grand old rag.” Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune “You’re a Grand Old Rag.” So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a “rag,” however, that he “gave ‘em what they wanted” and switched words, renaming the song “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

On June 2, 1906, the song was copyrighted with its new name and the sheet music was reprinted, with “old flag” in place of “old rag” in the lyrics.

“You’re a Grand Old Flag” was hugely popular and became the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music.

Ironically, at least one critic felt that Cohan’s George Washington Jr. and the songs in it were too patriotic. Life magazine critic James Metcalf wrote that they exuded “mawkish appeals to the cheapest kind of patriotism.”

Presumably, as Liberace once quipped about negative reviews of his music, Cohan cried all the way to the bank.

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Further reading, listening and viewing…

“The business of America is business” – a famously unfair misquote…

When President Warren G. Harding died from a heart-related problem in 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge became the 30th President of the United States.

The following year, with his popularity buoyed by a strong economy, Coolidge handily won the 1924 presidential election, using the campaign slogan “Keep Cool With Coolidge.”

Unlike some presidents, “Silent Cal” Coolidge wasn’t known for making memorable statements.

The most famous quote associated with him is a line about business being the business of America.

That line is often given as “The business of America is business” or “The business of the American people is business.”

In fact, both of those versions are misquotes.

They aren’t radically different from what he actually said, which was “the chief business of the American people is business.”

However, when this short quote or the misquote versions are cited alone, out of context, they tend to give the unfair and inaccurate impression that Coolidge was a one-dimensional, pro-business cheerleader.

President Coolidge made his famous remark in an address to the Society of American Newspaper Editors on January 17, 1925 in Washington, D.C.

The early part of the speech he gave that day was about the role of the press.

“There does not seem to be cause for alarm in the dual relationship of the press to the public, whereby it is on one side a purveyor of information and opinion and on the other side a purely business enterprise,” he said. “Rather, it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation, is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences.”

Coolidge went on to add his famous quote.

“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.”

The idea that Americans are concerned about prospering seems pretty reasonable. And, Coolidge made it clear that he didn't mean “greed is good.”

“Of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence,” he said. “But we are compelled to recognize it as a means to well-nigh every desirable achievement. So long as wealth is made the means and not the end, we need not greatly fear it...But it calls for additional effort to avoid even the appearance of the evil of selfishness. In every worthy profession, of course, there will always be a minority who will appeal to the baser instinct. There always have been, probably always will be, some who will feel that their own temporary interest may be furthered by betraying the interest of others.”

In light of the recent financial scandals involving the corporate executives of big banks and Wall Street firms and the debate about the 1% vs. the 99%, Coolidge’s comments are still surprising relevant today.

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Related reading…

The origin of the movie cliché: “We have ways of making you talk!”

Nowadays, it’s a cliché usually said for comedic effect, often with a German accent as if said by an evil Nazi, and delivered as a personalized threat: “Ve haf vays of making you talk!”

As classic film buffs know, the origin of this comedic line can be traced back to an old Gary Cooper movie and, with or without the German accent, “We have ways of making you talk” is actually a misquote of the original line in that movie.

The film, titled The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, is based on the 1930 book by the British Army officer and author Francis Yeats-Brown (1886–1944).

It premiered in New York City on January 11, 1935.

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer is a Rudyard Kipling-style tale, set in India in the days when it was still a British colony. The heroes of the saga are three British officers in the famed Bengal Lancers, Lieutenant McGregor, Lieutenant Forsythe and Lieutenant Stone, played by Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone and Richard Cromwell.

The plot deals with their efforts to thwart a revolt by an Indian version of Osama bin Laden named Mohammed Khan, played by the great character actor Douglas Dumbrille.

At one point, the three officers are captured by Mohammed Khan. Over a deceptively cordial dinner, Mohammed Khan says he will let them go if they give him some information he wants. When Franchot Tone flippantly refuses, he makes his ominous threat — in perfectly good English, with no silly accent.

Mohammed Khan: “You have only to answer two very simple questions. By what route is the ammunition train coming? And, just where does the regiment plan to meet it for convoy?"

Lieutenant Forsythe: “Well, when the furry little animal jumped out of the bag he really jumped, didn’t he?”

Mohammed Khan: “Well, gentlemen? We have ways to make men talk.”

Getting no information by asking nicely, Mohammed Khan applies his “ways” of encouraging conversation.

Starting with Gary Cooper, the three soldiers have sharp slivers of bamboo inserted under their fingernails. Then the bamboo slivers are set on fire.

Somehow, over the decades Mohammed Khan’s sinister line from The Lives of a Bengal Lancer morphed into a comedic cliché, usually in a misquoted form. And, today, most people are unaware of its origin.

Related reading and viewing...