I'm looking for the source of the following quote (or very similar):
"an axe to grind and plenty of fury to turn the wheel"

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 09 Jul 2002 18:24 PDT

"An axe to grind" is a common expression, but I'm not finding anything
like "plenty of fury to turn the wheel."

Where did you hear this phrase?  Is it something you've heard a friend
or family member say?  Did you read it somewhere?  Or did you hear it
on the radio, on TV, or in a movie?

Any information you have on the phrase might be helpful.

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Clarification of Question by robertprather-ga on 09 Jul 2002 19:21 PDT

It is posted on Instapnudit.com and I'm trying to find out where it
originated.  The guy who runs InstPundit is a lawyer so it may be from
a legal person or it could be from classic literature or from a
politician.  He put it on his website as a challenge to readers and I
looked high and low throughout google and other engines and couldn't
find it.  Then I turned to you.

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Clarification of Question by robertprather-ga on 23 Jul 2002 00:01 PDT

Yes, I'm sure it's a quote.  I got the part about the grindstone but I
don't think that's what he's looking for.

Note to other researchers: 

http://www.instapundit.com/archives/002118.php is the post in question.

:) zerocattle-ga

Can also be found in this post, where the challenge is made:
http://www.instapundit.com/archives/002237.php#002237.

I KNOW I have heard this quote before, and I'm racking my brain trying
to figure out where.  Somehow, I think it might have been Judge Judy,
actually -- or a similar TV judge, although I had no evidence to
support this.  Maybe that info will help someone else ring a bell..
and I'll keep looking for you.

-Rebekah

Thank you, I would love to know who said this.  Once it's found I'll
put it on my web page and it will reside on the internet from now on.

You know, it could have been "Murder, She Wrote" (the other TV show
I've been watching way too much of lately).  I could be TOTALLY off,
but I know I've heard it in the last few days, and I have a hunch, or
feeling that it's from an older lady who's in the truth finding
business.  (Which may be why the lawyer quoted it?)

I don't know, maybe I need to go to bed, will think of it tomorrow
hopefully...

-Rebekah

Robert,

  Interestingly enough, this hunt for this quote is making other
webpages as well!! :)   Check out this link, where they mentioned it
today!

http://relapsedcatholic.blogspot.com/

This is DRIVING ME CRAZY! :)  Back to the drawing board,

-Rebekah

Are we sure this is an actual quote ? i.e. it has a definitive source?
The reason I ask is that the phrase is an old one - an axe (and
knives) are sharpened on a grindstone, blacksmiths use a grinding
wheel, turned by handle and the implement is sharpened by turning the
wheel by hand, so the phrase "makes sense" - the more fury you have
the greater strength and stamina to turn the wheel for longer to give
a sharper blade.
Maybe I am just stating the obvious, but thats what I always thought
was the derivation of this phrase.

The answer is: "I have an axe to grind, and plenty of fury to turn the
wheel." The source is Arthur Allen Leff's article, Economic Analysis
of Law: Some Realism About Nominalism, in the Virginia Law Review. The
cite is 60 Va. L. Rev. 451, 456 (1974).