Today’s Pearls Before Swine cartoon has a fake Buddhist quote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Pearls Before Swine comic strip has the following dialogue:

 

Pig: How do you know whether or not you should say something?

Rat: I use the old Buddhist test.

Pig: What’s that?

Rat: I ask (1) Is it nice? (2) Is it true? (3) Is it necessary?

If it fails all three, I say it.

Pig: You may have that wrong.

Rat: Hmm… should I say what I’m about to say next?

 

Is that a real Buddhist quote? Nope. Bodhipaksa’s 2018 book, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha! What Fake Quotes Can Teach Us About Buddhism says this about it (as quote #18):

 

“ ’If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind?’

 

When I first saw this one I thought it might be a paraphrase of something from the scriptures, although it seemed too neat to be a direct quote. But there are close parallels. For example, we’re told that there are five factors that mark words a being well spoken:

‘It is spoken at the proper time; what is said is true; it is spoken gently; what is said is beneficial; it is spoken with a mind of loving-kindness.’

 

The actual origins of the quote in question lie, however, not in ancient India but in eighteenth-century Britain. The Reverend James Haldane Stewart (1778-1854), who was the son of a Scottish clan chief, is quoted as having advised people to ask themselves before offering criticism, ‘First, is it true? Second, is it kind? Third, is it necessary?’

 

The similarity between the scriptural quote and Stewart’s is likely due to a kind of religious convergent evolution, since at the time Stewart died the early Buddhist scriptures hadn’t even begun to be translated into English.”  

 

An earlier blog post at his Fake Buddha Quotes, also titled “If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind?” instead said it came from an 1872 poem by Mary Ann Pietzker titled Is It True? Is It Necessary? Is It Kind?

 

The Buddha statue came from Wikimedia Commons.