He doesn't give a damn about Needs Must Admiring the Best

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Marius Hancu - 02 Jan 2007 01:33 GMT

Hello:

Happy New Year 2007, everyone!

I understand that
"Needs Must Admiring the Best"
means something like
"of necessity admiring the best," correct?

------
The Friend of Your Youth is the only friend that you will ever have,
for he hasn't the slightest concern with calculating his interest or
your virtue. He doesn't give a damn, for the moment, about Getting
Ahead and Needs Must Admiring the Best, the two official criteria in
adult friendships, and when the boring stranger appears, he puts out
his hand and smiles (not really seeing your face), saying, "Well,
Jack, damned glad you came, come on in, boy!"

All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren, p. 336
------

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

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tinwhistler - 02 Jan 2007 03:39 GMT

> Hello:
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> means something like
> "of necessity admiring the best," correct?

[snip]

You could be right -- I can't think of a better interpretation. RPW
presents it as if it were a trite platitude (hence the initial
capitals), but I can't find any other recorded usages.

Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

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Don Phillipson - 02 Jan 2007 14:31 GMT

> ------
> . . . He doesn't give a damn, for the moment, about Getting
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren, p. 336
> ------

The text makes plain these are two cliches (two official
criteria) and not a typographical error for (1) Getting Ahead
(2) Needs Must, (3) Admiring the Best.

The problem is that "Needs Must"
is a recognized proverb, a truncated form of
"Needs must when the Devil drives."
This cannot be traced (by me) to any poem or
similar source of proverbial expressions.
It is a "nanny" expression, i.e. the sort of maxim
a (lower class) nurse would say to (middle class)
children to reinforce adult authority, confirming that
conformity is enforced by circumstances, like it
or not.

But the five words "Needs Must Admiring the Best"
are not recognized as a single proverbial expression.
It looks like more sloppy writing by RPW.

Signature

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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CDB - 02 Jan 2007 16:09 GMT

>> ------
>> . . . He doesn't give a damn, for the moment, about Getting
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> are not recognized as a single proverbial expression.
> It looks like more sloppy writing by RPW.

It sounds like a Memorable Phrase from a sermon. Googling "must needs
admire the best", which seems to be a more natural order for those
words in a sentence, gives one hit, in a document I can't get to
because it's on JSTOR: "The School of English Church Music, Mansion
House Meeting", in _The Musical Times_: "I believe that all men must
needs admire the highest when they see it, and they must needs admire
the best and highest music when they hear it. ..."

The article was published in 1937, not long before ATKM; so Warren or
even his readers might remember it if it had had some public
attention. If, as seems more likely, not, it's another small
indication that the expression may have had some currency as a
proverb..

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Marius Hancu - 02 Jan 2007 19:31 GMT

> The problem is that "Needs Must"
> is a recognized proverb, a truncated form of
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> conformity is enforced by circumstances, like it
> or not.

Well, I've found it in this reference:

-----------
Needs must when the Devil Drives.

The French say:
"Il faut marcher quand le diable est aux trousses;"
and the Italians say:
"Bisogna andare, quando il diavolo ? vella coda."

If I must, I must.

"He must needs go that the Devil drives."
Shakespeare: All's Well That-Ends Well, i. 3.

http://tinyurl.com/yxkprb
-----------

> But the five words "Needs Must Admiring the Best"
> are not recognized as a single proverbial expression.

Thanks anyway.
Marius Hancu

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Don Phillipson - 02 Jan 2007 22:42 GMT

> "He must needs go that the Devil drives."
> Shakespeare: All's Well That-Ends Well, i. 3.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yxkprb

Bravo ! Devoted for decades to the Oxford Book of
Quotations, I need more practice on line.

Signature

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

He doesn't give a damn about Needs Must Admiring the Best