Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Misquoted Franklin

I've heard Benjamin Franklin misquoted about a dozen times in the past few months. These misquotes are always spouted by the left as a major support toward their willingness to let Muslims plot terrorist acts against us--it is as if the utterance of this quote invites good Ben onto the podium where he stalwartly stands and nods his head in historical approval. Except, of course, that Benjamin Franklin didn't say what they say he said.

The misquote: "They that give up liberty for safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The real quote: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

Now, can a leftest tell the difference?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are still misquoting.

The quote is "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

And it's debateable that Franklin even came up with that. But even if he did, I doubt he would've used such horrid grammar as "they that can.."