Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
Ken,

That line is one of the great myths of the military. It's been attributed to George Washington of all people, and I know there's a cite out there claiming the Officer's Guide. Problem is that there was no such book (at least not that I've been able to track down...although one might have been privately published). I've also seen it tracked back to a 1904 edition of a naval officer's guide.

One of these days I want to do some serious digging on this one.
I ran across it at Ft. Knox. It appeared in the 1978 Defense Appropriation Act with no source. One of the NCOs got curious and went to the USAARMS Library and dug around and came up with a 'source.' I may have the title of the nominal source wrong and the year, as I said, is suspect -- 30 years has dimmed the ol' synapses -- but it was something along that line and about that time in the 19th century.

The guy was fairly reliable so I didn't dig into it, just took it at face value. I've heard the line since several times in various places but had never heard it before 1977 though it may have been around. Nor have I heard it attributed to Washington (and based on what I've read that he wrote or signed, it doesn't sound like something he'd say).

So, apocryphal or not, good line, regardless..

(and if it is apocryphal, proves what I've long suspected about appropriators -- they make stuff up ...)