« Home | FREE ST. GEORGE'S--A TREASURE TROVE OF SCOTTISH RE... » | "LETTERS MINGLE SOULS" » | STUDYING PATRISTICS » | DARRIN BROOKER'S BLOG » | SCIENTIA EST LIBERTAS » | BENJAMIN BEDDOME & BIBLICAL REASONS FOR AFFIRMING ... » | THOSE BLOGS WITH LATIN NAMES » | LISTENING TO THE DEVIL » | FREE PDF FACSIMILE OF CODEX VATICANUS! » | CONFESSIONAL CHRISTIANITY & BAPTISTS »

ON QUOTATIONS--SOME PRINCIPLES

A great quote from Edmund Burke (1729-1797) has been posted here by Kirk Wellum.

Reading this quote led me to think of that other famous quote often attributed to Burke, which runs something like this: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” I say “something like” because it turns out there are dozens of variants of this quote!

For a thoughful study of these variants, see Martin Porter, “ ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’ (or words to that effect): A study of a Web quotation” (January 2002; http://www.tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html). Porter actually concludes after an exhaustive study that Burke never said this second quote about the triumph of evil and good men doing nought! In this essay and a follow-up one (“Four Principles of Quotation: Being a follow up to A study of a Web quotation” (March 2002; http://www.tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote2.html), Porter rightly argues that for a quote to be used correctly it must be cited exactly from the source and something of the context knowable.

He therefore gives four principles regarding making quotations—this is a must for students of history and those aspiring to be historians.

Principle 1 (for readers): Whenever you see a quotation given with an author but no source assume that it is probably bogus.

Principle 2 (for readers): Whenever you see a quotation given with a full source assume that it is probably being misused, unless you find good evidence that the quoter has read it in the source.

Principle 3 (for quoters): Whenever you make a quotation, give the exact source.

Principle 4 (for quoters): Only quote from works that you have read.  

PS I would wholeheartedly affirm Principles 1 and 3. Principle 2 seems to engender too much skepticism. And Principle 4 seems to be a little narrow.