I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses
Not Victor Hugo — a modern twist on an Edwardian sayingAnonymous (modern satire on an Edwardian quip)Congress version undated · underlying saying in print in full by 1910
Nothing in Victor Hugo’s works contains this line. Wikiquote lists it under “Disputed” ↗: it is widely credited to Hugo online, but no source has been identified, and Wikiquote judges it something a modern satirist might derive from a remark credited to Mrs Patrick Campbell around 1910. Quote Investigator ↗ traces that underlying saying and concludes that its originator remains anonymous.
“I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses” not found in Victor Hugo’s works; a modern political twist on an anonymous Edwardian saying often credited to Mrs Patrick Campbell. Source: Quotle.info
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Provenance
Where the line actually comes from
In Hugo's works?
No. No source identified (Wikiquote, Victor Hugo, “Disputed”)
Underlying saying
Anonymous: a partial form in 1879, a full form by 1910 (Quote Investigator)
Best-known telling
Alan Dent, Mrs. Patrick Campbell (1961), p. 78
“Congress” wording
Undated internet-era variant, no known source
Mrs. Campbell silenced the gossip for good with the sentence: “Does it really matter what these affectionate people do—so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses!”
The original quip: no Congress, no Hugo
From Alan Dent’s 1961 biography Mrs. Patrick Campbell, as transcribed by Quote Investigator ↗. Dent presents it as her reply to a young actress who was gossiping about an older actor and the leading man. The saying is about private conduct, and politicians do not appear in it.
Earliest trace: Quote Investigator finds a partial form, “So long as they don’t frighten the horses it matters little,” in The Lancaster Daily Intelligencer in 1879, and concludes that “the originator remains anonymous” (Quote Investigator ↗).
1929: Mrs. Claude Beddington prints “I really don’t mind what people do, so long as they don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses!” and credits it to an unnamed “witty Edwardian” (Quote Investigator ↗).
1961: Alan Dent’s biography credits the quip to Mrs Patrick Campbell, which is the version Wikiquote records as hers, c. 1910 (Wikiquote: Mrs Patrick Campbell ↗).
The “Congress” version credited to Hugo: Wikiquote lists it under “Disputed” and says no source has been identified (Wikiquote: Victor Hugo ↗).
The “Congress” wording has no identified author or first publication, so quotle.info assigns it no copyright status. The older “frighten the horses” saying is anonymous, and the Campbell telling quoted above comes from Alan Dent’s 1961 biography, which is a 1931-or-later work and is not treated here as public domain.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Who gets the credit, and why it's wrong
The joke about not frightening the horses has been pinned on half the Edwardian era, and the “Congress” version adds Victor Hugo to the list.
✕
The “Congress” wordingVictor Hugo No source
It is widely repeated online, but no source has been identified. Wikiquote lists it under “Disputed” ↗ and calls it a statement a modern satirist might derive from Mrs Patrick Campbell’s remark.
✕
The underlying “frighten the horses” sayingMrs Patrick Campbell Often credited
Alan Dent’s 1961 biography gives her a version of it (Wikiquote ↗), but Quote Investigator ↗ finds the saying in print before then and concludes that its originator is anonymous. In any case she never mentioned Congress.
✕
The underlying sayingOscar Wilde Misattributed
According to Quote Investigator ↗, Brendan Behan in 1964 credited it to an unnamed woman at the time of Wilde’s trial. Robert Scheer later recalled Ronald Reagan quoting it as Wilde’s in a 1980 interview.
✕
The underlying sayingKing Edward VII and Lady Tree Unsupported
A 1947 English book review credited Lady Tree, and a 1961 Sydney review credited the king while calling the attribution “rather improbable” (Quote Investigator ↗).
✓The truth: no one has found the “Congress” line in any work by Victor Hugo. It is a political rewrite of an anonymous Edwardian joke that was in print by 1910 and is often credited to Mrs Patrick Campbell (Quote Investigator ↗).
Context
Why the Congress version stuck
The original joke is about tolerance of private behavior. As Quote Investigator’s citations show, its targets ranged from cigarettes and bicycles to love affairs and same-sex relationships, and the only demand was that people keep it out of the street. Its wording may echo real 19th-century ordinances against frightening horses in public.
Changing “people” to “Congress” turns the shrug into a jab at politicians, and attaching it to Victor Hugo, a novelist who also served as a legislator, gives the joke a borrowed weight. Wikiquote found no source for that pairing.
Does it really matter what these affectionate people do—so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses!
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The author
About the real source
AN
Anonymous (saying often credited to Mrs Patrick Campbell)
Edwardian-era saying · full version in print by 1910 · often credited to Mrs Patrick Campbell (1865–1940)
The “don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses” joke has no single proven author. Quote Investigator finds a partial form in 1879 and a full form by 1910. It credits Mrs. Claude Beddington with popularizing the saying in 1929, though she attributed it to an anonymous “witty Edwardian.” The actress Mrs Patrick Campbell, who created Eliza Doolittle in Shaw’s Pygmalion, most often gets the credit. The Congress version is a later political spin, and nobody has found its source.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Cite this page
Quote Investigator, “Quote Origin: I Really Don’t Mind What People Do, So Long As They Don’t Do It In the Street and Frighten the Horses,” October 8, 2019, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/10/08/frighten/ (the saying is anonymous, with a partial form in 1879 and a full form by 1910); Wikiquote, “Victor Hugo,” Disputed (no source identified for the “Congress” wording).
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-dont-mind-what-congress-does-as-long-as-they-dont-do-it/