# Who said this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 16, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197 "2004-12-16T19:58:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jeffro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/1 "2004-12-16T19:58:43Z")

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Quote  
God save us from those that would do things “for our own good”.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/2 "2004-12-17T03:11:01Z")

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I asked one of the formost “quote guys” over at the American Dialect Society about this. He had never heard of it.

Can you give any context for your cite?

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/3 "2004-12-17T04:45:52Z")

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It sounds to me like an interpretation of a quote.

YMMV of course.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/4 "2004-12-17T10:49:27Z")

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I’ve looked through a couple of big dictionaries of quotations and found nothing like that.

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/5 "2004-12-17T11:36:15Z")

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You’ve never heard of it? It’s a common enough expression, usually given in the form _“God save us from those that would save us from ourselves.”_ Google “save us from ourselves” or “save me from myself” and you’ll find plenty of examples. I don’t know it it can be traced back to an original quote, though.

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**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/6 "2004-12-17T13:42:09Z")

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This may be a variation of “God, save us from your believers”, which may have originated [here](http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml8736.htm). I have no idea whether that poem created the phrase or just used it.

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**Author:** ![Jeffro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-said-this/280197/7 "2004-12-17T14:28:31Z")

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Sorry folks, I have no idea where I heard it or read it.