“I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I said.”

—  Alan Greenspan

1988 speech, as quoted in The New York Times, October 28, 2005.
Sometimes misquoted as: "If I have made myself clear, I've misspoken."
1980s

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I said." by Alan Greenspan?
Alan Greenspan photo
Alan Greenspan 51
13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the United States 1926

Related quotes

Alan Greenspan photo

“Since becoming a central banker, I have learned to mumble with great incoherence. If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said.”

Alan Greenspan (1926) 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the United States

Speaking to a Senate Committee in 1987, as quoted in the Guardian Weekly, November 4, 2005.
1980s

“Then watch out. I warn you!"

"That is very considerate of you," said Chrestomanci. "I like to be warned.”

Diana Wynne Jones Charmed Life

Source: Charmed Life

Nicholas Sparks photo

“I guess what I'm trying to say is that you are there, in everything I am, in everything I've ever done, and looking back, I know that I should have told you know much you've always meant to me.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Wedding

Source: The Wedding

Oscar Wilde photo

“Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be misunderstood.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Letter http://www.artsandartists.org/exhpages/whistler.html to James McNeill Whistler (23 February 1885)

Harry Chapin photo

“You see, I have no real complaints of how you've left your past behind
I guess what gets me worried is you've erased him from your mind.”

Harry Chapin (1942–1981) American musician

I Wonder What Happened to Him
Song lyrics, Dance Band on the Titanic (1977)

Rachel Caine photo

“You've turned into quite a bossy little thing," Myrnin said. "I think I might like it.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Bite Club

Lewis Carroll photo

“Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
“No, I give it up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter”

Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Cormac McCarthy photo

“I never knowed there was such a place as this.
I guess there’s probably every kind of place you can think of.”

Cormac McCarthy book All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses (1992)

G. K. Chesterton photo

“I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this book.”

G. K. Chesterton book All Things Considered

"The Case for the Ephemeral"
All Things Considered (1908)
Context: I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this book. It is a collection of crude and shapeless papers upon current or rather flying subjects; and they must be published pretty much as they stand. They were written, as a rule, at the last moment; they were handed in the moment before it was too late, and I do not think that our commonwealth would have been shaken to its foundations if they had been handed in the moment after. They must go out now, with all their imperfections on their head, or rather on mine; for their vices are too vital to be improved with a blue pencil, or with anything I can think of, except dynamite.
Their chief vice is that so many of them are very serious; because I had no time to make them flippant. It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous.

Related topics