Edgar Allan Poe? Samuel Johnson? William Johnson Neale? Dinah Craik? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: The following hyperbolic proverb encouraging skepticism has been credited to the master of mystery and the macabre Edgar Allan Poe:
Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear.
Did Poe craft this saying?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” by Edgar Allan Poe appeared in the November 1845 issue of “Graham’s Magazine”. The tale was set in a private hospital for the mentally ill, and the adage was spoken by the nominal head of the institution. Emphasis added by QI:1
“You are young yet, my friend,” replied my host, “but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
Thus, Edgar Allan Poe helped to popularize this expression, but he was not the first to use it. In 1831 William Johnson Neale published the novel “Cavendish: Or The Patrician at Sea” in which a character who was a naval officer employed the adage:2
“The rule with us is, believe nothing you hear, and but half you see.”
Hence, William Johnson Neale is a candidate for creator of the adage; however, QI believes the saying was probably already in circulation in the Royal Navy.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
The related notion of believing half of what you hear has a long history. For example, in 1783 the following conversation occurred between biographer James Boswell and the famous lexicographer Samuel Johnson:3
Talking of an acquaintance of ours, whose narratives, which abounded in curious and interesting topicks, were unhappily found to be very fabulous; I mentioned Lord Mansfield’s having said to me, “Suppose we believe one half of what he tells.”
JOHNSON. “Ay; but we don’t know which half to believe. By his lying we lose not only our reverence for him, but all comfort in his conversation.”
A song book from 1809 contained a lyrical instance of the precursor statement:4
Since we’re told to believe only half what we hear,
Ev’ry tale we attempt shou’d from fiction be clear,
In 1831 William Johnson Neale used the full adage in a novel as mentioned previously.
In 1843 “Narrative of a Voyage Round the World Performed in Her Majesty’s Ship Sulphur During the Years 1836-1842” by Captain Sir Edward Belcher contained the following passage:5
It is asserted that it “never rains at Lima.” In discovery ships, or vessels on scientific research, the law is “believe nothing you hear, and only half you see.” I know I heard very heavy pattering, and I saw heavy streams issuing from tops of houses and traversing the streets.
In 1845 Edgar Allan Poe employed the adage in a short story published in “Graham’s Magazine” as mentioned previously.
In May 1849 a Buffalo, New York newspaper published an account from San Francisco, California about the ongoing gold rush. The correspondent called the statement an “old saying” and expressed disagreement:6
I will write to you from the mines and then shall be able to speak of my own knowledge. I believe all that is told, for this reason, that more than all I have heard has been realized by observation, and the old saying that you are to believe nothing you hear and but half you see, will fail here.
In November 1849 a Louisville, Kentucky newspaper printed a different account from San Francisco that was a bit more suspicious of the gold rush:7
The accounts from the mines are very contradictory; you can believe nothing that you hear in this country, and only one half of what you see; but I am perfectly satisfied that there is gold in abundance here, and that it is to be obtained only through the hardest kind of labor, hardships and privations.
In 1872 “The Raleigh Daily News” of Raleigh, North Carolina printed an instance without attribution:8
In regard to the outlaws it seems we must adopt the old rule—“Believe nothing you hear, and but half you see.”
In 1942 H. L. Mencken included the saying in “A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources”, but he provided a citation that appeared after Poe’s tale:9
Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.
DINAH MULOCK CRAIK: A Woman’s Thoughts, 1858 (Quoted as “a cynical saying”)
In 1966 Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong crafted the hit song “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”. The most popular rendition was recorded by Marvin Gaye for his 1968 album “In the Groove”. The lyrics included an instance of the saying:10
People say believe half of what you see
Son and none of what you hear
But I can’t help but be confused
If it’s true please tell me dear
In 2014 the “Chicago Tribune” printed a review of the movie “Stonehearst Asylum” which was loosely based on Poe’s story:11
The key line in the script comes straight out of Poe: “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”
In conclusion, the earliest instance of this adage known to QI appeared in an 1831 novel by William Johnson Neale. A seaman character used the expression which was probably already in circulation. Edgar Allan Poe included the saying in his 1845 short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether”.
Image Notes: Picture of three wise monkeys from Chris Tweten at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Jonathan Lighter whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to twitter discussants Benjamin Dreyer, Iain MacDonald, and Max Maven. MacDonald suggested adding a citation for “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”. Special thanks to Christian Sánchez who told QI about the 1831 and 1843 citations. Also, thanks to Kelly Locke who told QI about the song “Drawing the Long Bow; or, How to Tell a Story”.
Update History: On October 4, 2024 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated. On October 16, 2024 citations dated 1783, 1809, 1831, and 1843 were added to the article.
- 1845 November, Graham’s Magazine (Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art), Volume 28, Number 5, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether by Edgar Allan Poe, Start Page 193, Quote Page 194, Column 2, George R. Graham & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (HathiTrust Full View) link ↩︎
- 1831, Cavendish: Or The Patrician at Sea by Anonymous (William Johnson Neale), Volume 1 of 3, Chapter 5, Quote Page 59, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1830, The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell, Year: 1783, Quote Page 532, Column 1, Published by John Sharpe, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1809, The Heart of Oak; Consisting of a Choice Selection of New Songs for the Year 1809, Drawing the Long Bow; or, How to Tell a Story, Written by T. Dibdin, Esq. and Sung by Mr. Munden at Covent Garden, Quote Page 5, Printed for T. Maiden for J. Roe and Ann Lemoine, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1843, Narrative of a Voyage Round the World Performed in Her Majesty’s Ship Sulphur, During the Years 1836-1842 by Captain Sir Edward Belcher (Commander of the Expedition), Volume 1 of 2, Chapter 8, Quote Page 198, Henry Colburn, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1849 May 28, Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, (Communication from W. R. A. in San Francisco, California on Feb. 28, 1849), Quote Page 2, Column 2, Buffalo, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1849 November 17, The Examiner, (Communication from San Francisco on August 29th, 1849), Quote Page 1, Column 6, Louisville, Kentucky. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1872 March 23, The Raleigh Daily News, State Matters, Quote Page 3, Column 1, Raleigh, North Carolina. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1942, A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources, Selected and Edited by H. L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken), Section: Belief, Quote Page 96, Column 2, Alfred A. Knopf. New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
- YouTube video, Title: Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Uploaded on Apr 12, 2007, Uploaded by: Luke Gibbons, (Quotation starts at 2 minutes 9 seconds of 3 minutes 19 seconds)(“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1966. Popularized by Marvin Gaye on his 1968 album “In the Groove”) (Accessed on youtube.com on August 8, 2017) ↩︎
- 2014 October 24, Chicago Tribune, The inmates run the asylum: What could possibly go wrong? by Michael Phillips (Tribune Newspapers Critic), (Movie Review of “Stonehearst Asylum”) Section 4, Quote Page 7, Column 2, Chicago, Illinois. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎