“The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
This is a modification of a March 1967 quote by Israeli politician Abba Eban who said, "Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources." Eban used various versions of this quote over the years. In 1979 he said, "My experience teaches me this: Men and nations do act wisely when they have exhausted all the other possibilities." http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/ <br class="br">In a 1970 Congressional hearing, a version of the quote first referenced Americans. It was attributed to an unnamed Irishman. "And indeed, we often know how to do things by the philosophy that was expounded by another Irishman I know. He said that you can depend on Americans to do the right thing when they have exhausted every other possibility." http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/ <br class="br">The earliest known attribution of the quote to Churchill occurred in 1980. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/ <br class="br">Misattributed
“The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Al Gore (1948) 45th Vice President of the United States
"So, Al Gore, what's the one thing we can all do to tackle climate change?" in The Independent (7 July 2007) http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2742779.ece.
“People always try to do the right thing.. after they've tried everything else.”
Tyler Perry (1966) American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, author, and songwriter
Abba Eban (1915–2002) Israeli diplomat and politician
Speech in London (16 December 1970); as quoted in The Times [London] (17 December 1970) and in Great Jewish Quotations (1996) by Alfred J. Kolatch, p. 115.
Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States
"The Can't-Do Guys" (p.47)
So This Is Depravity (1980)
L. K. Samuels (1951) American writer
Source: In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action, (2013), p. 17
Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist
From 1980s onwards, Cosmography (1992)
“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
A Short History of England (1917)
Alex Morgan (1989) American soccer player
"Alex Morgan: ‘If Fifa start respecting the women’s game more, others will follow’" https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/16/alex-morgan-us-soccer-football-fifa-lyon-women-equality (Janaury 17, 2017)