Origin of the phrase "You're either very brave, or very stupid"
You're either very brave, or very stupid
It's a common as dirt line from basically every action or drama movie ever, some examples from the top of my head would be Spooks S05E08- Agenda, Star Trek DS9 S05E23- Blaze of Glory and Red Dwarf: S06E03- Gunmen of the Apocalypse (mighty instead of very, to fit in with the western theme of the episode).
I've had a google around but I couldn't find any information on this, and surprisingly TVTropes doesn't have a page for it.
Does anyone know where this phrase came from? It must be something famous because it shows up everywhere. From those I remember the earliest is Red Dwarf in 1993, so that's the number to beat.
Best Answer
Here's a book from 1945:
The pilot was either very brave or very stupid
Experiment with Google n-gram viewer to find other/closer versions of the quote.
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Answer 2
I think The Sea Hawk (1940) might qualify as an origin, at least in film.
You were very brave, trying to take this ship single-handed.
Thank you, sir.
Brave but stupid.
I would venture to guess that something very similar was written in a book long before.
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