Quotation source needed?

Question

I'm trying to find the correct citation for this quote:

"The birch is used only out of bad temper and weakness, for the birch is a servile punishment which degrades the soul even when it corrects, if indeed it corrects, for its usual effect is to harden."

In my book (The Natural Child) I have attributed the quote to:

— Saint John Baptiste de La Salle in “On the Conduct of Christian Schools” (1570)

However, the French publisher who is preparing a translation of my book has found a copy of the Saint John book, and can't find the quote there.

Through an Internet search, I found the quote attributed to Edmund Rice's "Christian Brothers Manual of School Government", 1832. It is cited in A Most Unenviable Reputation: The Christian Brothers and School Discipline Over Two Centuries by Barry Coldrey, Tamanariak Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, 1991.

I'm wondering if the Manual is the original source of the quote, or if it appeared in another, earlier publication.

Answer 1

Citations should be direct, not secondhand.  Don't cite a reference that you haven't seen for yourself.  It may not be correct, as you have found.  And there's a lot of wrong stuff on the internet!