“Publish and be damned.”

His response in 1824 to John Joseph Stockdale who threatened to publish anecdotes of Wellington and his mistress Harriette Wilson, as quoted in Wellington — The Years of the Sword (1969) by Elizabeth Longford. This has commonly been recounted as a response made to Wilson herself, in response to a threat to publish her memoirs and his letters. This account of events seems to have started with Confessions of Julia Johnstone In Contradiction to the Fables of Harriette Wilson (1825), where she makes such an accusation, and states that his reply had been "write and be damned".

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 4, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Publish and be damned." by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington?
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington photo
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington 45
British soldier and statesman 1769–1852

Related quotes

Benjamin Zephaniah photo

“I have always loved playing around with words. I didn’t know it was called poetry. I was just an innocent kid messing around with words when an adult said ‘You’re a poet, be published or be damned’.”

Benjamin Zephaniah (1958) English poet and author

On the realization that he was a poet in “Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah” https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/advice/37/a-writers-toolkit/interviews-with-authors/interview-with-benjamin-zephaniah in Writers & Artists

Ernest Hemingway photo

“Having books published is very destructive to writing. It is even worse than making love too much. Because when you make love too much at least you get a damned clarte that is like no other light. A very clear and hollow light.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Letter to Bernard Berenson (2 October 1952); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker

Vasily Grossman photo

“It is impossible to publish your book, and it will not be published in the next 200 years.”

Vasily Grossman (1905–1964) Soviet writer and journalist who originally trained as an engineer

1960s

Hoyt Axton photo

“God damn, The Pusher
God damn, I say The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man.”

Hoyt Axton (1938–1999) American country singer

The Pusher (1968)

Sinclair Lewis photo
Koenraad Elst photo

“Hindus are damned if they do, damned if they don't.”

Koenraad Elst (1959) orientalist, writer

Source: 2000s, Decolonizing the Hindu Mind (2001), p. 97

Aristotle photo

“My lectures are published and not published; they will be intelligible to those who heard them, and to none beside.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Letter to Alexander the Great as quoted by William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), Ch. 2, Sect. 2

Mariano Rajoy photo

“Everything that has been published is false, except something, which is what the media has published.”

Mariano Rajoy (1955) Spanish politician

4 February, 2013, during a press conference with Angela Merkel, when asked about the Bárcenas Case.
As President, 2013
Source: El País https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/02/04/actualidad/1359990966_366780.html

William Luther Pierce photo

“(self-published)”

William Luther Pierce (1933–2002) American white nationalist

Sources

Related topics