A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“I read old books because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
“I study old buildings because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
“Due to personal reasons, I’m still going to be fluffy this summer” (4/18)
“Do not honk at me. My life is worthless. I will kill us both” (bumper sticker) (4/18)
Entry in progress—BP16 (4/18)
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Entry from April 17, 2013
“Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret”

“If you speak when angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret” was credited to comedian Groucho Marx (1890-1977) in 1954. The line has also been credited to Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) and Ambrose Bierce (1842-1913), but there is no evidence that the saying existed before the 1950s.
 
 
3 November 1954, Greensboro (NC) Record, “Inside TV” by Eve Starr, pg. B-3, col. 4:
Groucho quips: “It takes a heap of spending to make a house a home.” His best advice to contestants is: “If you speak when angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.”
 
Google Books
The Reader’s Digest
Volume 69
1954
Pg. 140:
Speak when you’re angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret. -Anonymous
 
25 September 1958, Lebanon (PA) Daily News, pg. 1, left masthead:
Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.
   
Google Books
The Complete Toastmaster:
A New Treasury of Speakers

By Herbert V. Prochnow
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1960
Pg. 55:
Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.
 
Google News Archive
9 October 1962, Beaver County Times (PA), pg. 6, col. 6:
Speak when you are angry, and you will make the finest speech you will ever regret. —Arcadia (Wis.) News-Leader.
 
Google Books
The Speaker’s Quote Book:
Over 5,000 Illustrations and Quotations for All Occasions

By Roy B. Zuck
Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic & Professional
2009
Pg. 15:
Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret. —Henry Ward Beecher
 
Google Books
Chicken Soup for the Soul:
All in the Family:
101 Incredible Stories about Our Funny, Quirky, Lovable & “Dysfunctional” Families

By Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark and Susan M. Heim
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
2009
Pg. ?:
Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. ~Ambrose Bierce

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Wednesday, April 17, 2013 • Permalink


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