Comments on: Did Napoleon say this?

Question: Did Napoleon say this?

ewkpates — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 04:57:26 -0800

Did Napoleon ever say...

"In war and prosititution, hardworking amatures are better than professionals" or anything like it?

...and what's the very best most historical most personal most full of quotes Napoleon book I could buy?

By: slater

slater — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 05:55:21 -0800

For the quote:

Wikiquote doesn't have anything

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 06:06:16 -0800

Extremely unlikely. See the discussion here, particularly my book recommendation. (From the Keyes book's section on Napoleon: "Napoleon frequently discussed his concepts of war but never recorded them.")

By: dsword

dsword — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 07:08:46 -0800

This guy says yes.

An opinion piece from the Washington post also says yes.

I can't find a direct citation right now, but Google is the moral of the story.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 13:53:23 -0800

That was marked as best answer? "A couple of guys said so, and besides, you can google things"? I guess ewkpates wasn't actually interested in an answer. (Note to dsword: not everything you read on the internet is true, and that goes triple for quote attributions.)

By: dsword

dsword — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 01:20:00 -0800

I agree, which is why I mentioned that I couldn't find a (direct, I said, by which I meant reliable) citation. Furthermore, I responded to an email from the poster asking for clarification as to whether his question was, "Was it Napolean who said..." vs. "Did Napolean actually say..." Being unsure, I provided evidence to the former, while acknowledging that I was unable to answer the latter. I admit that it was early, I was going through my morning routine of drinking coffee and checking the morning internet-things, and I was feeling a bit lazy. I apologize for that.

By: dsword

dsword — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 01:22:13 -0800

And also, I'm apparently in the habit of mispelling Napoleon tonight... which is strange, although it is late, and I have had a bit to drink.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 05:44:51 -0800

While I was basically ragging on the poster who marked yours as "best answer," I'm not thrilled with you either. Your "but Google is the moral of the story" is the complete opposite of the truth. The moral of the story is not to trust anyone who doesn't provide verifiable citations, which in this area means books like Bartlett's, not forchrissake Google, which is the equivalent of sticking your head out the window and asking whoever happens to be passing by.

Here's a "Boomer quiz" I googled up. Note #22: Said "Don't trust anyone over 30." Their "answer"? Bob Dylan. I rest my case.

By: dsword

dsword — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 12:28:33 -0800

Jesus, man, lighten up. I interpreted the question as casual, not as seeking a reference for use in scholarly writing--in part simply because of the nature of the quote. On top of that, it seemed to me that the poster hadn't tried looking for themselves. A comment such as, "I've found a few people quoting him, but I'd like to know the source," would have resulted in a different response. "Google is the moral of the story," meant "Try looking," and was a bit snarky.

By: dsword

dsword — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 12:33:57 -0800

Also, I agree with what you posted in the Eisenhower thread, particularly the last bit.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 13:14:15 -0800

OK, I see where you're coming from now, and I retract, oh, 50% of my snark, but you've got to admit "Google is the moral" is not the best advice for a quotation question. I guess I get particularly touchy in AskMe threads because so many people (present company excluded) feel compelled to share whatever drifts through their brains at the moment even if they themselves realize it's unlikely to help the poster, they just like the sound of their own voice. But you're not one of those folks, so sorry if you caught some shrapnel.