Plagerized Quote. Anybody know the TRUE AUTHOR?

MattinSTL

MattinSTL

Sound Modulator
I've been asked to find the origins and context of a quote. The quote has been given to me as this:

"Excuses are tools used by the weak to build monuments of nothingness. Those who use them seldom amount to anything."

The inspiration of this search is by an authority in charge of a class... and this is part of some homework... but the problem is that it seems a hell of a lot of people have modified this quote and taken it as their own... and I expect that, in this case, that may also be true. However... paraphrasing the quote leads me to Ben Franklin saying, "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."

Based on the content of the class... I expect that the exact quote above in yellow... would be from a military source, or a world leader... and not an obscure 28 year old actor from Canada named Steven Grayhm (if you start googling you'll be surprised how many people are taking credit for this quote in slight variations)... I've also seen the quote attributed to Malcom X... and variations of the quote by a lot of other people... which is really ironic that so many people are STEALING a quote about honor by making elementary modifications to the original verse.

So... does anyone know this EXACT quote?
 
Well... if anybody has a better answer then this, I'm all ears... but I gather I've probably answered the question myself... I'm digging deeper and it's still Ben Franklin... but it's not that exact quote.
 
"Excuses are monuments of nothingness. They build bridges to nowhere. Those who use these tools of incompetence, seldom become anything but nothing at all.”

Far as I know, it's an anonymous quote.
 
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Sounds like something that Mr. Lebowski (the wealthy one) could have said in The Big Lebowski.

Kevin
 
For a "quote" this thing is the most botched up bit of variation I've read... it's so lofty sounding that it's laughable when people say "tools of the week"... or "tools of the incompetence"...

If you're going to use such a haughty phrase as your personal motto... you might want to get your English and/or meaning correct.

This little test has proven more challenging then I expected... but, if I were to make a logical guess at the situation... then we have a simple original quote... the one I listed above credited to BF... and then at some point, somebody wanted to put more weight into the same basic statement... and it's at that point that they added "monuments of nothingness"... and doubled BF's quote by drawing it out into two sentences.

Where the challenge comes in... is there's supposed to be a specific origination for this quote... and a context... and so far, outside of Poor Richard's Almanac (BF's publication)... I can't find anything specific.
 
I always just go with:


"I neither want nor require your excuses. Now get me a cool beverage before I kick you in the face." - Matt G., 1889
 
Excuses are tools of incompetence
Used to build monuments to nothingness
And those that specialize in them
Are seldom good for anything
But Excuses, excuses, excuses.



Delphos Daily Herald Friday, December 14, 1894 Delphos, Ohio quotes

No wiser remark was ever made by Dr. Benjamin Franklin than a severe
sentence which he once uttered to a young man who had an appointment
with him and missed it.

Next day the young man came and began to make
a very fluent excuse to the doctor for his absence the day before.

"Stop!" said Franklin. "You have said too much already,
my good boy, for the man who is good at making an excuse
is seldom good at anything else.''
 
Yes, I found the same post on that same forum... I'm assuming we can call that correct. There is also reference to this quote said to come from Poor Richard's Almanac... I believe issue 6 from 1743? But in Poor Richard's (according to google books) there's no context... it's just among some other quotes.
 
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