Puzzling quotation

[T.Kirupa]

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have made this statement: 'Able was I, I saw Elba'. It is puzzling why and under what circumstances he made this observation. Any explanation?

[tractatus]

It is a palindrome, really said by Napoleon? In English? Search web for reliable source.

[schinjc]

Seems abbreviated: the version I heard as a youngster was
"Able was I ERE I saw elba."

[sprinks]

From Wikipedia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elba

Napoleon stayed on Elba for 300 days before he escaped and returned to France on February 26 for the Hundred Days. After his defeat at Waterloo he was subsequently exiled again, this time to the barren and isolated South Atlantic island of Saint Helena. Napoleon's stay on Elba is the basis for the famous English language palindrome: "Able was I ere I saw Elba." It is the connection with Napoleon that Elba is best known for internationally.

Although I keep reading things about how Napoleon could have said it if he spoke French, and yet it is in English. I don't know.

[jgweed]

It isn't a palindrome in French, that's for sure.

[Fins45]

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have made this statement: 'Able was I, I saw Elba'. It is puzzling why and under what circumstances he made this observation. Any explanation?::

Yes - he probably never said it anyway, but it's often quoted as an example of a palindrome (reads the same backwards as forwards) if you insert 'ere'
between the comma and the second I. A simpler one is 'rats live on no evil star'. The simplest is probably 'eve'.

Hope this solves the puzzle for you.

Fins45

[Livia]

Dammit I'm mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I'm in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level "Mad Dog".
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I'm a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I'm it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I'd assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
"Sir, I deliver. I'm a dog"
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I'm mad.
- Demetri Martin

[YALASH]

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have made this statement: 'Able was I, I saw Elba'. It is puzzling why and under what circumstances he made this observation. Any explanation?

Peace be on you.
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/15/saw-elba/

[Pompey Bum]

Well, some men interpret nine memos, I always say.

[Ecurb]

T. Roosevelt: A man, a plan, a canal - Panama.

[Pompey Bum]

Sit on a potato pan, Otis!

[p271singh]

Smile is the 2nd best thing
you can do with your Lips.
What is first thing??

(Answer is "KISS").

_______________

[p271singh]

Helloo