04-09-2008, 06:58 PM
Origin of "speak softly and carry a big stick"
The widespread use of this proverb began with American president Theodore Roosevelt. In a speech in Chicago in April 1903, he said:
There is a homely old adage which runs: 'Speak softly and carry and big stick; you will go far.' If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.
The proverb is sometimes cited as being of African origin, although I can find no evidence for that. If it truly was an 'old adage' in 1903 it ought to be easy to find earlier citations of it, but I can find none. It is certainly possible that Roosevelt coined the phrase himself.
From http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/329050.html
The widespread use of this proverb began with American president Theodore Roosevelt. In a speech in Chicago in April 1903, he said:
There is a homely old adage which runs: 'Speak softly and carry and big stick; you will go far.' If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.
The proverb is sometimes cited as being of African origin, although I can find no evidence for that. If it truly was an 'old adage' in 1903 it ought to be easy to find earlier citations of it, but I can find none. It is certainly possible that Roosevelt coined the phrase himself.
From http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/329050.html