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Who first said it: "If you are not a liberal at twenty...
October 26, 2009 | Winston Churchill?

Posted on 10/28/2009 6:25:08 PM PDT by Michael.SF.

"If you are not a liberal at twenty, you have no heart and if you are not conservative at thirty, you have no brain."


TOPICS: History; Miscellaneous; Politics; Reference
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The above, or variations of the same thought, is most often attributed to Winston Churchill. Years ago I found a website that had variations of that sentiment, expressed in varying ways with attributions to various men through history.

Does anyone have a reference to an earlier attribution then Winston Churchill?

I would like to find the correct or earliest reference to it, but all searches lead back to Churchill. Cany anyone help?

1 posted on 10/28/2009 6:25:09 PM PDT by Michael.SF.
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To: Michael.SF.

Interesting quote but I was never a liberal, even as a kid.


2 posted on 10/28/2009 6:28:20 PM PDT by packrat35 (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.- M Thatcher)
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To: packrat35

Yeah I can’t recall ever being liberal. Maybe more liberal than I am now but still pretty conservative.


3 posted on 10/28/2009 6:31:55 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: Michael.SF.

I don’t know, but I wasn’t a liberal at 20...


4 posted on 10/28/2009 6:32:40 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: Michael.SF.

I think Churchill is where you will find your search ending.


5 posted on 10/28/2009 6:33:57 PM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: Michael.SF.

Hannity aside, I don’t think Churchill would have used those terms.


6 posted on 10/28/2009 6:37:00 PM PDT by decimon
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To: packrat35
Interesting quote but I was never a liberal, even as a kid.

I was only a bit more liberal as a kid. Back in my late teens, I would have assumed that someone like Obama was misguided. Since then, I'm met genuine evil face to face. I no longer mistake such people for those who are merely mistaken.

7 posted on 10/28/2009 6:37:43 PM PDT by TurtleUp ([...Insert today's quote from Community-Organizer-in-Chief...] - Obama, YOU LIE!)
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To: TurtleUp

Was it Bismarck?


8 posted on 10/28/2009 6:39:26 PM PDT by ak267
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

I used to think it was Churchill but not anymore... still, I can’t remember who actually said it.


9 posted on 10/28/2009 6:41:09 PM PDT by scripter ("You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis)
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To: decimon

Churchill was first in the Conservative Party, then switched to the Liberal Party, then switched back to the Conservative Party.


10 posted on 10/28/2009 6:42:58 PM PDT by Boiling Pots (Barack Obama: The Final Turd George W. Bush laid on America)
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To: scripter

The other person who normally gets credit is Buckley, but I think he lifted it from Churchill.


11 posted on 10/28/2009 6:43:28 PM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: Michael.SF.

I started out in single digit years of age with a reagan-ish point of view.

Then as I aged , i got more and more conservative.

Now I’m middle aged and there are probably less than ten thousand people on the planet further right than I am.

Sorry, I can’t help you out on that quote. All I can say to you is that I think churchill didn’t say it. I remember reading about that quote and all the people it was attributed to. But I don’t remember who it was that really said it first.


12 posted on 10/28/2009 6:43:36 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: Michael.SF.

It was first said by Francois Guisot, a French monarchist statesman:

“Not to be a republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.”
(Said in reference to whether France should be a republic or a monarchy.)

It was later adapted by French Premier Georges Clemenceau:

“Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head.”


13 posted on 10/28/2009 6:44:18 PM PDT by HGSW0904
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius
Hmm. I tried to find the original source once and couldn't or just don't remember. This link says it wasn't Churchill while a lot of links say it was: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/33/messages/766.html
14 posted on 10/28/2009 6:45:37 PM PDT by scripter ("You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis)
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To: decimon
Here is the quote from one source and I do stand corrected:

If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”

15 posted on 10/28/2009 6:46:05 PM PDT by Michael.SF. (Where are are we going and how did I get in this hand basket?)
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To: Michael.SF.

I think the correct quote is:

If you are not a liberal at twenty I would say you had no heart. If you are not a conservative by 40 I would say you had no brain.


16 posted on 10/28/2009 6:52:35 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The Second Amendment. Don't MAKE me use it.)
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To: Michael.SF.

It does no good to have a heart with no brains. Most conservatives have both. I was always a conservative except where the death penalty applied. I have since changed my standing on that. LOL!


17 posted on 10/28/2009 6:56:12 PM PDT by christianhomeschoolmommaof3 (Best thing about Cash for Clunkers is that 90% of the Obama bumper stickers are now off the road.)
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To: Michael.SF.

I think it was my Uncle Eddie just before he fell asleep after Thanksgiving dinner.


18 posted on 10/28/2009 6:56:53 PM PDT by Carl LaFong (Experts say experts should be ignored.)
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To: HGSW0904

It appears Guisot is the orginator. I was thinking of George Bernard Shaw but that isn’t correct either.


19 posted on 10/28/2009 6:58:12 PM PDT by scripter ("You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." - C.S. Lewis)
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To: Michael.SF.
I strongly suggest that the source of that quote is wrong. In Churchill's day, “liberal” didn't mean what it does in the U.S.A. today. In fact, it still means something quite different in most of the rest of the Anglo-sphere.

U.S. leftists co-opted the word “liberal”; because they knew better than to call themselves what they actually are.

Churchill would have said “socialist” — and that's how I've always heard the quote repeated.

What's the opposite of “stand corrected”? IMHO, you were right the first time.

20 posted on 10/28/2009 6:58:26 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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