Woodrow Wilson

1856–1924 · 28th U.S. President; earlier a Princeton professor and university president

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. Before politics he was a professor of jurisprudence and political economy at Princeton and then president of the university, and it is that academic world — not the White House — that Quote Investigator points to as the likely home of this joke. QI concludes Wilson probably did use a version of it, but was reaching for a template already in circulation, which is why the saying is best described as anonymous rather than his invention.

Traced to source

1 quote we’ve traced

“If I Am To Speak Ten Minutes, I Need a Week for Preparation; If an Hour, I Am Ready Now”

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