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September 25, 2004
"An institution is the lengthened shadow of a man."
I was at a dinner Thursday night where IU President Emerson gave a good speech. In particular, he quoted Emerson as saying something like
(1) "An institution is the lengthened shadow of a man."
Looking this up on the web, some unreliable sources such as Brainyquote say
(2)" Every great institution is the lengthened shadow of a single man."
while others such as
Bartleby have
(3) "An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man."
Bartleby, which uses Bartlett's 10th edition, at least cites Emerson's
"Self-Reliance," First Series (1841). I wish there were a quotation book that did a tolerably good job of giving citations.
At any rate, I much like version (1) the best. It is both the punchiest and the most true. Institutions are usually *not* the shadows of one man alone, and great institutions, especially, are not.
I'll have to remember to tell my students in G492 not to indiscriminately trust web sources for quotations.
Posted by erasmuse at September 25, 2004 10:17 AM
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