# Help!  Who said this...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 7, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402 "2005-07-07T02:54:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402/1 "2005-07-07T02:54:07Z")

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Who said something like: People see things that are and ask why whereas I see what could be and ask why not?

Oh, this is gonna bug me now! His name is on the tip of my tongue!

- Jinx

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**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402/2 "2005-07-07T02:59:33Z")

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> [@Jinx](#):
>
> Who said something like: People see things that are and ask why whereas I see what could be and ask why not?
> 
> Oh, this is gonna bug me now! His name is on the tip of my tongue!
> 
> - Jinx

_Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not?”_

Frequently associated with Bobby (Robert F.) Kennedy, who used it in a speech, but was himself actually quoting George Bernard Shaw.

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402/3 "2005-07-07T03:00:41Z")

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Aaaah! Thank you so much…  
Very cool quote!

- The Jinx-ster!

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402/4 "2005-07-07T03:09:54Z")

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[According to this](http://www.bartleby.com/73/465.html), JFK used it in a speech several years before RFK. Personally, I’m most familiar with Ted Kennedy using it, quoting RFK at his funeral.

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**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-who-said-this/311402/5 "2005-07-07T03:20:24Z")

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> [@robardin](#):
>
> _Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not?”_

For the record, after looking up the exact wording of this quote for my last post, I have now had scenes fixed in my head for the past 10 minutes from the episode of South Park where the evil geneticist has bred a bizarre menagerie of animals with four asses.

If anybody has a link to still shots from the episode in question, it would hopefully help to relieve this attack.

(Well… Why not, indeed?)