Who said the following quote? (Please see details.)
Asked by
2davidc8 (
10189)
July 17th, 2018
We the Unwilling
Led by the Unknowing
Are doing the Impossible
For the Ungrateful.
We have done so much
For so long
With so little
That we are now qualified
To do anything
With nothing.
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7 Answers
“We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.” Dec 13, 1881— Konstantin Josef Jireček (July 24, 1854, in Vienna – January 10, 1918, in Vienna). Jireček was a Czech historian, politician, and diplomat, and a Slav scholar.
So Mother Teresa changed “willing” in the original Jireček quote to “unwilling”?
“If you find an unsourced quote on the internet, it was probably said by Einstein.”
—Abraham Lincoln
Nobody knows who said it originally. It’s one of those quotes that gets floated around and attributed to all sorts of people, but no one can seem to offer an original source for verification purposes. See this investigation and this thread.
It’s other way round as per this link Unwilling was changed to Willing in Mother Theresa’s quote.
@2davidc8 @imrainmaker Mother Teresa didn’t change it because she never said it (or at least, there’s no reliable record of her having said it). Most likely, the quote was just attributed to her (possibly to give it more credibility, possibly to give her more credibility, or possibly due to nothing more than bad memory).
Ah, another of those things that can never be determined.
Thank you for your answers!
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