Shades of grey

Posted by Smokey Stover on April 02, 2007

In Reply to: Shades of grey posted by Phillip on March 31, 2007

: Now, I've been hearing the phrase, "there's no black and white, just shades of grey," a lot recently, and I was curious if it came from anyone in particular, or if it had a traceable origin.

: Anyone know? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

No origin traceable by me. The OED cites the phrase "shades of grey" as part of a definition of "greys," the plural of grey. But it was plainly already an old phrase. Adding "tnere's no black and white..." must have been done first by someone specific, but it seems a pretty obvious thing.
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