Entry from October 02, 2009

“There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America”

"There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America” is often said to be a quotation of Otto von Bismarck (1818-1898). The quotation in the form “God always helps fools, lovers and drunkards” exists in French from at least 1708. In 1849, “the special providence over the United States and little children” was attributed to Abbé Correa. The old French proverb was credited to Bismarck in 1907.



The proverb—in its many forms—is still cited.





Wikiquote: Otto von Bismarck

Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 - 30 July 1898) German aristocrat and statesman; Prime Minister of Prussia (1862 -1890), First Chancellor of Germany (1871 - 1890); he is nicknamed the Iron Chancellor and is noted for the laconicity of his statements.

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Misattributed

There is a special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States of America.

. This saying appears as early as 1849 in the form “the special providence over the United States and little children”, attributed to Abbé Correa. There is no good evidence that Bismarck ever repeated it. See talk page for more details.



Wikiquote: Talk:Otto von Bismarck

Other variants

. God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America

. The Lord looks after fools, drunks, and the United States.

. There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.

. A special Providence takes care of fools, drunkards, and the United States.

. God always looks after the fools and the United States.

KHirsch 20:25, 5 November 2009 (UTC)



Google Books

Contes et nouvelles

By Marguerite (Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre)

Amsterdam: Chez George Gallet

1708

Pg. 44:

N’avez vous pas entendu dire, dit Guebron, que Dieu aide toûjours aux fous, aux amoureux, & aux ivrognes?

(Haven’t you heard, said Guebron, that God always helps fools, lovers, and drunkards?—ed.)



Google Books

Abrégé du Dictionnaire universel françois et latin: vulgairement appellé Dictionnaire de Trévoux

Volume 2

By Pierre Charles Berthelin

Paris: Libraires associés

1762

Pg. 253

Dieu aide à trois sortes de personnes, aux fous, aux enfants, & aux ivrognes.

(God helps three kinds of people: fools, children, and drunkards.—ed.)



Google Books

Stories of American life; by American writers

Volume III

Edited by Mary Russell Mitford

London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley

1830

Pg. 66:

That peculiar Providence which the French proverb truly says, always watches over fools and drunkards, brought him in safety to Rome; and there he fell in my way, in the manner already related.



Google Books

State trials of the United States during the administrations of Washington and Adams:

With references, historical and professional, and preliminary notes on the politics of the times

By Francis Wharton

Philadelphia, PA: Carey and Hart

1849

Pg. 4:

Were it not for this torpid ductility, this self-abandonment to what Correa called “the special providence over the United States and little children,” the accidents of a young government, like the accidents of a young child, would be fearfully accumulated.



Making of America

December 1856, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, “Editor’s Drawer,” pg. 135, col. 2:

It has been said that a “special Providence watches over children, drunkards, and the United States.”



Google Books

Australian Sketches:

The Gold Discovery, Bush Graves, &c., &c

By Thomas M’Combie

London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co.

1861

Pg. 50:

Fortunately, he was not injured by so unexpected an embrace of his mother earth; and the saying, that there is a providence that protects children and drunken men was fully verified in the present instance, for, on getting up, and shaking the dust from his clothes, it was found that no limbs were broken; and having consoled himself with another glass of brandy, the first having been spilt in his rapid descent, we started on our journey.



Google Books

September 1882, The Homiletic Monthly, “The leadership of Educated Me” by George W. Curtis, pg. 696, col. 1:

I understand the saying that God takes care of children, drunken men and the United States.



Google Books

Our Country:

Its possible future and its present crisis

By Josiah Strong

New York, NY: Published by Baker & Taylor for the American Home Missionary Society

1885

Pg. 30:

There is a popular faith that “God takes care of children, fools and the United States.”



Google Books

Glimpses of the Nation’s Struggle. [1st]-6th series. Papers read before the Minnesota commandery of the Military order of the loyal legion of the United States [1887]-1903/08.

By Edward D Neill; Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Minnesota Commandery.

St. Paul, MN

1893

Pg. 57:

We labor continuously against this seemingly popular American idea, that Providence takes care of children, fools and the United States.



New York (NY) Times

22 July 1897, New York (NY) Times, “Inverted Protection,” pg. 4:

Why are the prosperous times for this country so largely due to the whimsical intervention of that Providence which our French friends say watches over fools, drunkards, and Americans?



11 February 1900, New York (NY) Times, pg. 15, col. 4:

That there are so few of these is not due to the efforts of the railroad company, but to the truth of the old adage that there is some sort of providence that protects drunkards and fools.



Google Books

The campaign of Santiago de Cuba, Volume 1

By Herbert Howland Sargent

Chicago, IL: A. C. McClurg & Company

1907

Pg. 105:

When it is remembered that in this campaign the United States won a glorious victory far-reaching in its results, in spite of a lack of proper and timely preparation, in spite of the small size of the invading army and the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, in spite of the tropical rains, the withering heat, the deadly fevers, and the desperate resistance offered by the Spaniards on the battlefield, one is almost tempted to exclaim with Bismarck that “God always looks after the fools and — and the United States.”



Google Books

January 1908, Armor: Journal of the United States Cavalry Association, pg. 609:

Bismarck has truly said that “God always looks after the fools and the United States.”



Google Books

The Truth Concerning the United States Army

By Frederic Louis Huidekoper

Washington, DC: United States Infantry Association

1911 (Reprinted from Infantry Journal, May 1911)

Pg. 15:

We Americans have sublime faith in the truth of the remark once made by Bismarck that “the Lord takes care of babes, fools, and the United States.”



28 October 1912, Belleville (IL) News Democrat, pg. 7:

The Providence that protects little children and imbeciles and drunken men had steered that “millponner” safely and unscathed through what appeared to be a hopeless array of catfish and stingaree spines while he wrestled with the big bass.



Google Books

The Oxford history of the United States, 1783-1917

Volume 2

By Samuel Eliot Morison

Oxford: Oxford University Press

1927

Pg. 413:

Prince Bismarck is said to have remarked, just before his death, that there was a special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States of America.



Google Books

The Vaquero

By Arnold R. Rojas

Charlotte, NC: McNally and Loftin

1964

Pg. 39:

There is a providence that protects children, drunkards, vaqueros, and buckaroos.



3 November 1964, Pacific Stars and Stripes, “Kaiser Dismissed U.S. As Threat to Germany” by Hal Drake, pg. A2, col. 3:

‘There is a certain Divine Providence that protects fools, idiots and the United States of America,” Bismarck had said, after field observers brought him back reports of American mistakes during the Cuban campaign.



Washington (DC) Post

Obama’s French Lesson

By Charles Krauthammer

Friday, October 2, 2009

(...)

Bismarck is said to have said: “There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of America.” Bismarck never saw Obama at the United Nations. Sarkozy did.