Carolina Quotes
It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word.

Andrew Jackson Carolinian

Source

Sometimes reported as having been a retort to statements of his political rival, John Quincy Adams, who had boycotted Harvard University's awarding of a Doctorate of Laws degree to Jackson in 1833, declaring "I would not be present to witness her [Harvard's] disgrace in conferring her highest literary honors on a barbarian who could not write a sentence of grammar and could hardly spell his own name." Quoted in News Reporting and Writing 4th edition (1987) by M. Mencher. Unsourced variant: Never trust a man who has only one way to spell a word. — Likely misattributed

year
1833

attributed

Cite this record

“It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least …” Andrew Jackson. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-E79ED3927E. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/e79ed3927e

More from Andrew Jackson

John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!
As quoted in The American Conflict (1865) by Horace Greely, as a reaction to the Supreme Court ruling in Worcester v. Georgia (1832); reported as a misattribution in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 53, noting that historian Robert V. Remini believes Jackson did not make this statement, though it summarizes his attitude, as evidenced in a statement similar in nature made in a letter to John Coffee: "the decision of the Supreme Court has fell still born, and they find that they cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate."

disputed

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