An Account of Col. Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East : In the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-four (1835), p. 172
Context: I am sorry to say I do doubt the honesty of many men that are called good at home, that have given themselves up to serve a party. I am no man's man. I bark at no man's bid. I will never come and go, and fetch and carry, at the whistle of the great man in the white house, no matter who he is. And if this petty, un-patriotic scuffling for men, and forgetting principles, goes on, it will be the overthrow of this one happy nation, and the blood and toil of our ancestors will have been expended in vain.
Davy Crockett: Going
Davy Crockett was American politician. Explore interesting quotes on going.
“I leave this rule for others when I'm dead
Be always sure you're right — THEN GO AHEAD!”
Personal motto, on the title page.
Variants: Be sure that you are right, and then go ahead.
As quoted in David Crockett: His Life and Adventures (1874) by John Stevens Cabot Abbott, who indicates that he also often used simply "Go ahead!" as a battle cry, and general assertion of determination.
Unsourced variants: Be always sure you are right — then go ahead.
Be sure you are right — then go ahead.
Always be sure you are right — then go ahead.
A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (1834)
Comments on his final election defeat (11 August 1835)
Variant: Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed me, you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.
As quoted in David Crockett: The Man and the Legend (1994) by James Atkins Shackford, Introduction, p. xi
Col. Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas (1836)
Context: I also told them of the manner in which I had been knocked down and dragged out, and that I didn't consider it a fair fight any how they could fix it. I put the ingredients in the cup pretty strong I tell you, and I concluded my speech by telling them that I was done with politics for the present, and they might all go to hell, and I would go to Texas.
Source: Col. Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas (1836), Ch. 2
Context: In peace or in war I have stood by thy side —
My country, for thee I have lived, would have died!
But I am cast off, my career now is run,
And I wander abroad like the prodigal son —
Where the wild savage roves, and the broad prairies spread,
The fallen — despised — will again go ahead.
Last entry in his diary, (5 March 1836)