Quote Origin: Thinking Is the Hardest Work There Is, which Is the Probable Reason Why So Few Engage In It

Posted byquoteresearch

Henry Ford? G. K. Chesterton? Charles Zueblin? Franklin Minor? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The automotive titan Henry Ford reportedly crafted a humorous and insightful remark about thinking. Here are three versions:

1) Thinking is hard work. That may be the reason so few engage in it.
2) Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.
3) Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few people engage in it.

I haven’t been able to find the saying in Ford’s writings or in an interview. Also, I’ve seen several different expressions attributed to Ford. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In April 1928 a journal called “The Forum” published an interview with Henry Ford who commented on the apparent increase in the complexity and rapidity of life. Ford was skeptical about whether there had been a commensurate increase in thought. Boldface has been added to excerpts:1

But there is a question in my mind whether, with all this speeding up of our everyday activities, there is any more real thinking. Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.

Hence, Ford did make a remark that strongly matched the second statement provided by the questioner, but there was a slight difference. Ford said “the probable” instead of “probably the”. It also matched the third statement with the word “people” deleted.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Multiple precursors appeared during the decades before Ford’s interview. For example, an 1855 speech delivered by Franklin Minor to the Virginia State Agricultural Society contained the following:2

Thinking is the hardest work men have to do, and hence we have so few real thinkers.

In 1877 another precursor appeared in a Kansas City, Kansas newspaper which published remarks from Jonas Fitzbaron who was the “head of a flourishing manufacturing business in Boston”:3

Thinking is the hardest work that’s done in the world, and the most commonly shirked, therefore.

In 1889 “The World” newspaper of New York printed the following within an article by an unnamed journalist:4

Real thinking is the hardest work in the world, and that is the reason, probably, why there is so little of it done.

In 1914 the prominent English literary figure G. K. Chesterton published an essay containing a thematically germane comment in “The Illustrated London News”:5

Mr. Wilson, like M. Poincaré, belongs to the small group of honestly strong men who think before they act, for thinking is the hardest work in the world, and the most repugnant to our nature. Therefore the lazier sort of politician takes refuge in activity. The Superman, the Man of Action, acts before he thinks: he has to do his thinking afterwards.

In 1916 advertising specialist Robert R. Updegraff published a short book titled “Obvious Adams” which contained a thematically pertinent expression credited to sociologist Charles Zueblin:6

… I guess Professor Zueblin is right when he says that thinking is the hardest work many people ever have to do, and they don’t like to do any more of it than they can help. They look for a royal road through some short cut in the form of a clever scheme or stunt, which they call the obvious thing to do …

A separate Quote Investigator article about the quotation immediately above is available here.

In 1922 Henry Ford published his autobiography “My Life and Work” in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. The book included a remark similar to the comment printed in 1856 which was presented previously:7

A man who cannot think is not an educated man however many college degrees he may have acquired. Thinking is the hardest work any one can do—which is probably the reason why we have so few thinkers.

On April 13, 1928 the “San Francisco Chronicle” of San Francisco, California published an article titled “Thinking Is Hardest Work, Therefore Few Engage in It” by Henry Ford.8 The article consisted of a long excerpt from Ford’s piece in “The Forum” which was acknowledged. The quotation was further disseminated because it was included in the excerpt:

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.

On January 11, 1929 “The Montana Standard” of Butte, Montana commented on Ford’s essay and printed an instance of the saying that slightly differed from the original by using the phrase “probably the”:9

And here is one for the younger men standing at the threshold of business and industry to cogitate: “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”

In February 1929 the “San Francisco Chronicle” printed a variant of the saying using the phrase “hard work” instead of “hardest work”. The words were credited to Ford. The same variant was printed in “The Greenfield Daily Reporter”10 of Greenfield, Indiana in March 1929 and other papers:11

“Thinking is hard work. That may be the reason so few engage in it.”—Henry Ford.

In 1941 “The Morning Herald” of Uniontown, Pennsylvania linked the adage to a local person:12

DO YOU AGREE—Patrolman Orangle Show, the oracle of the Uniontown police force, utters a little homely philosophy that . . . “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason so few engage in it.”

In May 1941 “The Rolla Herald” of Rolla, Missouri printed a variant containing the word “kind” as a filler item:13

Henry Ford Says:
Thinking is the hardest kind of work — which is probably the reason so few engage in it.

In 1952 the columnist Franklin Pierce Adams placed an instance in his collection called the “FPA Book of Quotations”. The phrasing and attribution were correct, but the year specified for Ford’s interview was off by one:14

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.
—HENRY FORD (1863-1947) Interview, 1929

In conclusion, Henry Ford did craft the adage under examination. It appeared in the April 1928 issue of “The Forum”. Several variants have evolved over the years. Interesting precursors appeared in the nineteenth century.  In addition, G. K. Chesterton wrote a pertinent remark in 1914. Also, Charles Zueblin received credit for a germane comment in 1916.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Rosa Maria Ferrao whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Special thanks to Todd Gorman, Rodney Anderson, and Jeremy Mills who all told QI about the quotation attributed to Charles Zueblin in Robert R. Updegraff’s 1916 work “Obvious Adams”. Also thanks to Barry Popik for his previous exploration of this topic.

Update History: On September 25, 2024 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated. Also, the 1914 and 1916 citations were added to the article. On September 28, 2024 four citations from the years 1856, 1877, 1889, and 1922 were added to the article. Also, the conclusion was revised, and the acknowledgement was updated.

  1. 1928 April, The Forum, Volume 79, Number 4, My Philosophy of Industry by Henry Ford, Interview conducted by Fay Leone Faurote, Start Page 481, Quote Page 481, The Forum Publishing Company, New York. (Verified on microfilm) ↩︎
  2. 1856 April, The Arator, Extracts From the Address of Franklin Minor, Esq., Before the Virginia State Agricultural Society at Its Fair, November 1855, Start Page 411, Quote Page 413, Column 1, Raleigh, North Carolina. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  3. 1877 September 14, The Wyandotte Gazette, The Man Who Knew Men: A Character Sketch, Quote Page 1, Column 1, Kansas City, Kansas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  4. 1889 August 28, The World Evening Edition, The Inventor’s Genius, Quote Page 2, Column 3, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  5. 1914 September 26, The Illustrated London News, Our Notebook by G. K. Chesterton, Quote Page 2, Column 2, London, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
  6. 1916 Copyright, Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman by Robert R. Updegraff (Robert Rawls Updegraff), Quote Page 50 and 51, Harper & Brothers, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  7. 1922 Copyright, My Life and Work by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther, Chapter 17: Things In General, Quote Page 247, Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  8. 1928 April 13, San Francisco Chronicle, Thinking Is Hardest Work, Therefore Few Engage in It, Henry Ford in The Forum, Quote Page 25, Column 6, San Francisco, California. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
  9. 1929 January 11, The Montana Standard, Ford’s Philosophy, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Butte, Montana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  10. 1929 March 9, The Greenfield Daily Reporter, Some Remarks, Quote Page 3, Column 4, Greenfield, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  11. 1929 February 26, San Francisco Chronicle, Section: Editorial Page, Opinions, Quote Page 26, Column 2, San Francisco, California. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
  12. 1941 February 1, The Morning Herald, The Match Box Today, by P.E.C. Jr. and Staff, Quote Page 6, Column 3, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  13. 1941 May 1, The Rolla Herald, (Filler item), Quote Page 8, Column 4, Rolla, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  14. 1952, FPA Book of Quotations, Selected by Franklin Pierce Adams, Section: Thought, Quote Page 785, Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎