Nothing to Fear... The Fortune Cookie is Here!

When I opened the fortune, I couldn't believe it. Did FDR steal an old Chinese proverb....or the other way around? Whatever it was, I liked FRD's better: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Then, as I started to look it up, I found out the Henry David Thoreau actually wrote this quote in a journal entry in 1851. So it still begs the question, who did the fortune cookie writers take it from? And wouldn't the descendants of Thoreau sue by now for their credit to this quote? (LOL) Or maybe Thoreau studied the Chinese in the first place.... who knows?!

Sounds like a good research paper topic...

And for the sake of history, read FRD's speech here if you're curious: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/