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QUESTION: Trying to Verify Gandhi & Sinclair Lewis Quotes

Submitted by Anonymooose on Sat, 12/08/2007 - 4:16pm
question / pregunta: 

I am trying to verify the accuracy and source of two often-cited quotations:

1. “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Next they fight you. Then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Did Gandhi actually say this? Do you know when?

2. “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis

Is this actually a Sinclair Lewis quote (sometimes it is credited to Huey Long); if if it Lewis when did he write it?

Answers

Answer posted by: jenna

I found a similar quote, attributed to Tony Benn "It’s the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you’re mad, then dangerous, then there’s a pause and then you can’t find anyone who disagrees with you." http://www.bartleby.com/66/64/6664.html (from The Columbia World of Quotations, 1996)

I don't have the novel It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1935 to verify the quote, but since a few different web sources of the quote reference that book I'd feel pretty good about quoting it. http://worldcat.org/oclc/288938