Hello jeffbhc001,
The actual wording is:
"There is always an easy solution to every human problem--neat,
plausible, and wrong."
It appeared in the essay "The Divine Afflatus," originally published
in 1917, and reprinted in 1920 and 1949.
"Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. -- 'There is
always an easy solution to every human problem?-neat, plausible, and
wrong.'"
Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/73/1736.html
"H. L. Mencken"
Wikiquote
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken
- justaskscott
Searched on Google for various combinations of:
mencken
quotations
"and wrong"
"neat, plausible and wrong"
"daily mail"
prejudices
chrestomathy |
Request for Answer Clarification by
jeffbhc001-ga
on
22 Apr 2005 20:24 PDT
This is good and may be useable, but the words that were interesting are:
"... complex problem, ... and simple and wrong solution"
Is there anything that contrasts "complex problem" and "simple and wrong solution"?
|
Clarification of Answer by
justaskscott-ga
on
22 Apr 2005 21:20 PDT
Like far too many quotes to mention, this quotation has suffered from
repetition, especially on the Web. If the quotation were really "...
complex problem, ... simple and wrong," there would be a good citation
for it somewhere. I can't find one.
It's theoretically possible that Mencken, for some reason, rephrased
himself at some point. On the other hand, it's theoretically possible
that any noted author wrote or said any statement. (One cannot prove
that the author never wrote or said it.) In my experience with
researching quotations, a famous quote is typically said once, and
then changed over time by others.
I hope that this clarification is sufficient, especially since you
were looking for any similar quote and didn't need an exact match.
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
jeffbhc001-ga
on
22 Apr 2005 21:27 PDT
I just goggled
"complex problem" "simple and wrong solution"
and got a few responses - Attributed to A Einstein and at times
Winston Churchhill. Can you pursue this a little deeper?
|
Clarification of Answer by
justaskscott-ga
on
23 Apr 2005 08:19 PDT
Notice how "solution" has been added to the phrase in this version?
Instead of your initial version, "For every complex problem, there is
an answer that is clear, simple--and wrong," this variation reads
something like, "For every complex problem there is a simple and wrong
solution." My sense is that, with enough time, we could find fifty
variations on the quote floating around the Web.
Notice also how none of the pages with this quote give a citation for
this attribution?
Results for "complex problem" "simple and wrong solution" einstein
Google
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22complex+problem%22+%22simple+and+wrong+solution%22+einstein
Results for "complex problem" "simple and wrong solution" churchill
Google
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22complex+problem%22+%22simple+and+wrong+solution%22+churchill
Or you can try these searches without the word "solution"; most of the
attributions in those sets of results are to Mencken, without
citations.
As noted in my previous comment, one can't prove a negative.
Einstein, Churchill, or thousands of others could have said this. But
I conclude that they almost certainly did not say it in a context
recorded in print, or at least in a quoted print source or verbal
statement. Indeed, I can conclude that Mencken almost certainly
didn't either; rather, he wrote it as indicated in the answer. You
can check further by slogging through:
Results for "complex problem" "simple and wrong"
Google
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22complex+problem%22+%22simple+and+wrong%22
Lots of attributions to Mencken; no citations. By contrast:
Results for "human problem" "plausible and wrong"
Google
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22human+problem%22+%22plausible+and+wrong%22
Again, attributions to Mencken -- but here, citations from time to time.
|
,
0 Comments
)