“I cannot tell how the truth may be;
I say the tale as 'twas said to me.”
Canto II, stanza 22.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Walter Scott151
Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet 1771–1832Related quotes
Robert Southey (1774–1843) British poet
St. 11. <br class="br"> The Battle of Blenheim http://www.poetry-archive.com/s/the_battle_of_blenheim.html (1798)
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …
Additional information may be read at the following websites:
http://dakinburdick.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/tell-me-and-i-forget/
http://www.quora.com/History/Where-and-when-did-Benjamin-Franklin-say-Tell-me-and-I-forget-teach-me-and-I-may-remember-involve-me-and-I-learn
http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/word-badger/2013/mar/24/whose-quote-really/
Misattributed
“Tell her I am seriously hurt; how seriously I cannot yet say.”
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) American politician, 20th President of the United States (in office in 1881)
Message to his wife on being shot (2 July 1881), in The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield (1881) by E. E. Brown, p. 217 http://books.google.com/books?id=vCAFAAAAYAAJ <br class="br">1880s <br class="br">Context: Tell her I am seriously hurt; how seriously I cannot yet say. I am myself, and hope she will come to me soon. I send my love to her.
“I can make affirmation; I can say "So help me God, I will tell the truth."”
William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) United States Secretary of State
Scopes Trial (1925), Day 7
“How easy it is to tell tales!”
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist
Jacques le Fataliste (1796)
Albert Finney (1936–2019) English actor
Reply when asked if he thought he was a lot like the character he plays in Big Fish in an interview with Paul Fischer at Dark Horizons (2 December 2003).