Sunday, February 5, 2012

Did Paine ever say or write: "Lead, follow or get out of the way."

Followers of this blog will already know the answer to this question. It's been treated here before. But a recent article by essayist and commentator John Nichols of The Nation magazine treats Mitt-the-Mormon's miserable misquote of a few days ago. See:

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165986/tom-paine-would-not-have-approved-mitt-romney

The quote has already been roundly debunked here on this blog:

http://kenburchell.blogspot.com/2011/07/thomas-paine-never-said-nor-wrote-lead.html

but you're excused if you missed it and in case you did, a generous reader contributed what is probably the actual citation:

"We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way." George S. Patton, as quoted in Pocket Patriot : Quotes from American Heroes (2005) edited by Kelly Nickell, p. 157

[and thanks to Harvey J. Kaye for the tip-off on the Nichols piece]

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