A Stitch in Haste

Richard Cohen:

William F. Buckley, a founder of contemporary conservatism, once said he "would rather live in a society governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory than in one governed by the 2,000 members of the Harvard faculty."

Funny, I thought it was the first 200 names in the Cambridge phone directory rather than the faculty of Harvard Law School.

So, being a good cyber-surfing cyber-serf, I went to Google. Some sample results:

--"the first 300 names in the Boston phonebook than by the Harvard faculty"

--"the first 100 names in the Boston phone book than the Harvard Faculty"

--"the first 100 names in the Boston phone book than by any 100 Harvard professors"

--"the first hundred names in the Cambridge phone book than by the faculty of Harvard University"

--"the first 100 names in the Boston phone book than by the combined faculties of Harvard and MIT"

--"500 souls listed in the Boston phone book than by Harvard's faculty"

--"the first 100 names in the Boston phone book than by tenured members of the Harvard faculty"

And so on.

There's an urban legend that claims that William F. Buckley, Jr., is actually still alive (personally I think he's a replicant, or maybe a Cylon). In any case, could we trouble him to state once and for what the correct quote is? (Actually it appears he has -- see here.)

POST SCRIPT #1: In addition, who thinks they know where Buckley said whatever it was that he actually said? I'm under the impression that it was in a candidates' debate when he ran for Mayor of New York in 1965. Anyone have evidence to the contrary?

POST SCRIPT #2: If you think this is weird, try getting an exact, complete quote, and specific source, for Louis Brandeis' famous (and relentlessly misquoted) prescription that "sunshine is the best disinfectant").

POST SCRIPT #3: One more piece of quote trivia — Who famously remarked to a very young William F. Buckley, Jr., "You are too intelligent to believe in God..."?