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WT Sharpe · 04-11-2013, 08:32 PM

.....It was said by Fisher Ames that "falsehood proceeds from Maine to Georgia, while truth is pulling on his boots".
..........— Niles' Weekly Register (7 May 1831) Volume 40, page163. Fisher Ames (1758–1808) was a Representative from Massachusetts to the 1st United States Congress. This appears to be the earliest attribution of a quote whose variants have been attributed to everyone from Mark Twain (1835–1910) to Winston Churchill (1874-1965). The Baptist evangelist Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) made a similar statement in an 1885 sermon, referring to the statement as an "old proverb" even by his day: "It is a great deal easier to set a story afloat than to stop it. If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly: it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, 'A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.' "

04-11-2013, 08:32 PM	#2067
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,073 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	.....It was said by Fisher Ames that "falsehood proceeds from Maine to Georgia, while truth is pulling on his boots". ..........— Niles' Weekly Register (7 May 1831) Volume 40, page163. Fisher Ames (1758–1808) was a Representative from Massachusetts to the 1st United States Congress. This appears to be the earliest attribution of a quote whose variants have been attributed to everyone from Mark Twain (1835–1910) to Winston Churchill (1874-1965). The Baptist evangelist Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) made a similar statement in an 1885 sermon, referring to the statement as an "old proverb" even by his day: "It is a great deal easier to set a story afloat than to stop it. If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly: it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, 'A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.' "