“I never vote for anybody; I always vote against”
Entry in progress—B.P.
Wikiquote: W. C. Fields
W. C. Fields (29 January 1880 – 25 December 1946), born William Claude Dukenfield, was an American Actor and Comedian.
Sourced
. I never voted for anybody. I always voted against.
.. As recounted by Robert Lewis Taylor in W.C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes
.. Variant: I never vote for anyone; I always vote against.
Google Books
The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred R. Shapiro
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 3:
Franklin P. Adams
U.S. journalist and humorist, 1881-1960
“Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody, rather than for somebody.”
Nods and Becks (1944)
Pg. 256:
W. C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield]
U.S. comedian, 1880-1946
Pg. 257:
“Hell, I never vote for anybody. I always vote against.”
Quoted in R. L. Taylor, W. C. Fields (1949)
20 November 1932, New York (NY) Times, ‘Topics of The Times,” pg. E1:
Voters Always Affirm.
It is only a superficial view that the American people never vote for, and always vote against. As a matter of fact, Americans are always voting for, and it is always for the same thing. They always vote for prosperity.
If a President happens to coincide with good times, the American people re-elect him. If he happens to coincide with depression and panic, they defeat him. In both instances they vote for the same thing, for prosperity.
26 December 1932, New York (NY) Times, “Topics of The Times,” pg. 22:
It is said that the American people never vote for but just love to vote against.
Google Books
The Living Tradition;
Change and America
By Simeon Strunsky
New York, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
1939
Pg. 284:
It is only a superficial view that the American people never vote for and always vote against. As a matter of fact, Americans are always voting for, and it is always for the same thing. They always vote for prosperity.
Google Books
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen’s Magazine
Volumes 144-145
1958
Pg. 333:
Washington observers are fond of saying: “The American people never vote for anyone; They always vote against someone.”