Quote Origin: When Everybody Thinks Alike, Nobody Will Think At All

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George Patton? Benjamin Franklin? Walter Lippmann? John F. Kennedy? Sue Myrick? Edward Krehbiel? Jonathan P. Dolliver? Humphrey B. Neill? Eric Schmidt? Porter B. Williamson? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Conformity is a powerful force that narrows the thought patterns of groups and individuals. Here are three selections from a family of pertinent sayings:

(1) Where all think alike, no one thinks very much
(2) No one is thinking if everyone is thinking alike
(3) If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn’t thinking

Items in this group have been attributed to the prominent statesman Benjamin Franklin, the influential journalist Walter Lippmann, the well-known military figure George S. Patton, and others. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: This notion can be expressed in numerous ways; hence, it is quite difficult to trace. Below is an overview representing the evolution of this family with dates and attributions:

1886: When everybody thinks alike there is hardly any incentive to think at all
(Anonymous)

1905: When everybody thinks alike, nobody will think at all
(Anonymous)

1910: Where all think alike, you will find also a central office where all the thinking is done
(Jonathan P. Dolliver)

1915: Where all think alike, no one thinks very much
(Walter Lippmann)

1918: When all think alike no one thinks very much
(Anonymous)

1919: When everybody thinks alike nobody thinks at all
(Edward Krehbiel; He disclaimed credit in 1922)

1934: Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
(Attributed to Walter Lippmann)

1935: Where everybody thinks alike nobody thinks much
(Anonymous)

1942: When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks.
(Attributed to Reader’s Digest)

1949: When everyone thinks alike, ‘everyone’ is likely to be wrong
(Humphrey B. Neill)

1955: With everyone thinking alike, no one thinks at all
(Juvenile probation officer)

1959: When everyone is thinking alike, no one is doing any thinking!
(Attributed to Walter Lippmann)

1964: If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking at all
(Attributed to John F. Kennedy)

1976: When everyone thinks alike, nobody thinks
(Attributed to Walter Lippmann)

1977: When all think alike, none thinks very much
(Attributed to Ronald Gould)

1979: No one is thinking if everyone is thinking alike
(Principle ascribed to Benjamin Franklin)

1979: If everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking
(Principle ascribed to George Patton)

1988: If everybody’s thinking alike we’re not thinking
(Attributed to Sue Myrick)

1989: When all think alike, then no one is thinking.
(Attributed to Walter Lippmann)

1990: If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn’t thinking
(Attributed to George Patton)

1995: If everyone is thinking alike then no one is thinking
(Attributed to Benjamin Franklin)

1997: No one’s thinking if everyone is thinking alike
(Attributed to George Patton)

Summary Highlights: Precursors occurred in the 19th century, but the earliest full match located by QI occurred as an anonymous filler item in 1905. Journalist Walter Lippmann employed an instance in 1915, and he often receives credit for his popular phrasing. Stanford Professor Edward Krehbiel used an instance in 1919 although he disclaimed authorship later. Newspaper columnist Humphrey B. Neill crafted a variant in 1949.

QI hypothesizes that the linkage to statesman Benjamin Franklin and General George Patton occurred because of remarks in the 1979 book “I Remember General Patton’s Principles” by Porter B. Williamson. The book did not directly attribute the saying to either of these men; instead, the book claimed that the saying represented a decision making principle used by Franklin and Patton. Details are given further below.

QI acknowledges the previous excellent work of researcher Barry Popik who explored this topic and found helpful citations beginning in 1919.1

Here are the details for the citations in chronological order.

In 1865 the Associated Alumni of the Pacific Coast met in California for a festival, and Dr. Henry Gibbons delivered a speech containing a precursor for the family of sayings. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:2

“Men who think at all, don’t think like anybody else. It is the unthinking people, if you can pardon the solecism, who think alike.”

In 1886 “Springfield Daily Leader” of Missouri printed a short piece while acknowledging the “New York Herald”. The piece included another precursor:3

There is a very considerable want of harmony in the labor party just now. Well, gentleman, suppose you do disagree, what of it? When everybody thinks alike there is hardly any incentive to think at all.

In 1889 a newspaper in Astoria, Oregon printed another precursor. An editorial discussed the quarrelling which occurred at public meetings. The paper advocated harmony, but indicated that disagreements were inevitable:4

There is no place this side eternity, or the graveyard, where people are unanimous, and where everybody thinks alike or don’t think at all.

In 1898 Herbert N. Casson published “The Red Light” which included a precursor aimed at a group of political opponents:5

Conservatives have no trouble in agreeing; they all think alike, because they do not think at all; but in radical movements tolerance is absolutely indispensable.

In 1905 “The Westminster” periodical of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania printed a brief filler item without attribution. This was the earliest close match for the saying:6

When everybody thinks alike, nobody will think at all.

In 1910 Iowa politician Jonathan P. Dolliver employed a thematically related expression:7

The latter made a brief impromptu speech, in which he declared that a party in which there were no differences of opinion could not live. “When you find a community where all think alike, you will find also a central office where all the thinking is done,” he said.

In 1915 Walter Lippmann published “The Stakes of Diplomacy” and, he employed a version of the saying:8

To keep a faith pure, man had better retire to a monastery. Where all think alike, no one thinks very much. But whatever he does think, he can think with all his soul. It is at the cross-roads that skepticism is born, not in a hermitage. Without contact and friction, without experience, in short, our animal loyalties are supreme. Thought is not made in a vacuum, nor created out of likeness. It requires travel and shipping and the coming and going of strangers to impregnate a civilization.

In 1916 the “Political Science Quarterly” published a review of Lippmann’s book. The reviewer found the saying interesting enough to reprint it:9

Opposition, as Mr. Lippmann points out, is about the only incentive we have to practice reason and tolerance. “Where all think alike, no one thinks very much. But whatever he does think, he can think with all his soul.”

In 1918 the saying without attribution appeared in an advertisement for a Unitarian Church. This instance changed “where” to “when”:10

Freedom is creative foresight while authority is uniform hindsight. What creed makes freedom of thought a requirement of moral life?
When all think alike no one thinks very much.

In 1919 “The Evening News” of San Jose, California reported on a speech delivered by Professor Edward Krehbiel of Stanford University to collegiate alumnae. Krehbiel employed an instance of the saying at the end of his address:11

“When everybody thinks alike nobody thinks at all,” said Professor Krehbiel in closing.

In 1922 Edward Krehbiel employed the saying again while delivering a speech, but this time he disclaimed credit by using the phrase “as has been said”:12

“Each is looking through his own peculiar spectacles. And it is well that such a condition obtains. Because, as has been said, when everybody thinks alike, no one is thinking at all.”

In 1931 “The Kansas City Star” of Missouri printed a harsh variant:13

“All conflict of ideas is good,” the Jewell Republican reminds us. “When everybody thinks alike it means that we are all morons and content to stay morons.”

In 1934 the mass-circulation magazine “Reader’s Digest” published a collection of “Quotable Quotes” which included the following item. Thus, the connection to Lippmann was not forgotten:14

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
WALTER LIPPMANN:
famous political commentator

In 1935 the “Baptist and Reflector” of Nashville, Tennessee printed the following passage containing an anonymous instance:15

So long as Baptists are a free people you cannot expect standardized uniformity either in thinking or in practice. Nothing is more true than the statement that where everybody thinks alike nobody thinks much.

In 1942 an Elmira, New York newspaper published a letter from a reader containing a compact instance:16

I read in the Reader’s Digest words to the effect that when everyone thinks alike, no one thinks.

In 1949 journalist Humphrey B. Neill published “The Ruminator: A Column of Contrary Opinion”. Neill crafted the following thematic variant:17

The more one studies this “opposite approach” to an analysis of economic and financial events, the more he must be impressed with the thought that “when everyone thinks alike, ‘everyone’ is likely to be wrong.”

In 1955 a York, Pennsylvania newspaper published a quotation from an unnamed juvenile probation officer:18

“Sometimes the anti-social behavior of children is our most vivid indication of the need for constructive change. With everyone thinking alike, no one thinks at all. Our children are our most important asset and should be our greatest concern.”

In 1959 “The Los Angeles Times” of California printed a letter from a reader who credited Lippman with a rephrased version of the saying:19

. . . in the words of Walter Lippmann . . . “When everyone is thinking alike, no one is doing any thinking!”

In 1964 a former U.S. President received credit in a Dallas, Texas newspaper:20

John F. Kennedy so rightly said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking at all.” If America ever falls, it will be an inside job brought about by the indifference of the American people.

In 1976 a columnist in the “The Boston Globe” of Massachusetts credited Lippman with another rephrased version of the saying:21

Perhaps the amount of thinking a person indulges in is illuminated by an ironic Czech saying, “Thinking hurts.” Likewise, there is the classic comment made in the 1930s by that outstanding American journalist, Walter Lippmann: “When everyone thinks alike, nobody thinks.”

In 1977 a book of quotations titled “Quote Unquote” included the following entry:22

When all think alike, none thinks very much. (RONALD GOULD)

In 1979 Porter B. Williamson published “I Remember General Patton’s Principles”. Patton died in 1945, and the book was based on Williamson’s memories of military service with Patton during World War 2. The book contained three versions of the saying. The first instance appeared as the title of a book section. The second instance appeared in the body of the text. Williamson stated that the saying was a principle used by Benjamin Franklin and George Patton:23

NO ONE IS THINKING IF EVERYONE IS THINKING ALIKE

It was not necessary for staff officers to agree with Gen. Patton. He followed Ben Franklin’s idea of no one was thinking if everyone was thinking alike. Gen. Patton did not want staff officers that would follow his every whim. He was harsh with officers who would differ and not give valid reasons for the difference of opinions.

The third instance of the saying appeared on the back cover of the book within a list of decision making principles used by Patton:24

DECISION MAKING
Grab’m by the nose and kick’m in the pants!
If everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking.
In the long run, it is what we do not say that will destroy us.

In 1988 a mayor in North Carolina received credit for the saying:25

Today’s Quote
“If everybody’s thinking alike we’re not thinking”
— Charlotte Mayor Sue Myrick Saturday, a guest on a WHVN radio talk show in response to questions about Charlotte City Council members’ differences.

In 1989 Lippman received credit for yet another phrasing of the expression:26

When all think alike, then no one is thinking.
Walter Lippman (1889-1974)
American journalist

In 1990 a compilation titled “Great Quotes From Great Leaders” contained the following item credited to Patton:27

If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn’t thinking.

In 1995 a newspaper columnist in Price, Utah credited Franklin with the following version:28

Over a century earlier, Benjamin Franklin told us that if “everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.”

The phrasing has been divaricating for decades. The following appeared in a Wichita Falls, Texas in 1997:29

We need to speak out on valid points of difference. General George Patton’s principles for making decisions still apply: “No one’s thinking if everyone is thinking alike.”

In 2014 two top executives at Google, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, published “How Google Works”. The book included a quotation attributed to Patton, but the authors were unable to verify its provenance:30

As General Patton famously said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” 125

Footnote 125. Although this quote is commonly attributed to Patton, we couldn’t find any direct proof of his actually saying it, at least not from his memoir War As I Knew It or from his famous speech to the Third Army. But the Internet says he did, so it must be true (that’s a joke).

In conclusion, this article presents a snapshot of current research. The earliest close match for this saying appeared in 1905, and the creator was anonymous. A large number of variant expressions have proliferated during subsequent years. Walter Lippmann penned a version in 1915. Edward Krehbiel employed a version during a 1919 speech although he disclaimed credit in 1922.

The connection to George Patton is weak. The attribution appeared in a 1979 book by Porter B. Williamson who was relying on his memories of events that happened decades earlier.

Image Notes: Public domain illustration of lightbulbs of different colors. Image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Juan Quaglia, Fabius Maximus, and Jade P whose inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg who mentioned this saying in their 2014 book which gave further impetus to this quest. Further thanks to Barry Popik for his research on this topic which was acknowledged in the body of this article. Also, thanks to Pete Morris who sent QI some 19th century precursors including the 1865 and 1898 citations.

Update History: On November 6, 2022 the citations dated 1865 and 1898 were added to the article. On December 18, 2024 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.

  1. Website: The Big Apple, Article title: If everybody’s thinking alike, somebody isn’t thinking, Date on website: May 05, 2010, Website description: Etymological dictionary with more than 10,000 entries. (Accessed barrypopik.com on November 4, 2022) link ↩︎
  2. 1865, Oration, Poem, and Speeches Delivered at the Second Annual Meeting of the Associated Alumni of the Pacific Coast, Held at Oakland, California, June 6th, 1865, Section: The Festival, Remarks from Dr. Henry Gibbons, Start Page 88, Quote Page 89, Published by Associated Alumni of the Pacific Coast, California. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  3. 1886 December 29, Springfield Daily Leader, Why Not Quarrel? (Acknowledgement to New York Herald), Quote Page 2, Column 2, Springfield, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  4. 1889 May 4, The Daily Morning Astorian, To-Night’s Meeting, Quote Page 2, Column 1, Astoria, Oregon. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
  5. 1898, The Red Light by Herbert N. Casson, Chapter: Bigotry and Intolerance, Quote Page 141, Lynn Labor Church Press, Lynn, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  6. 1905 May 27, The Westminster, Volume 30, Number 21, In Brief, (Filler item), Quote Page 6, Column 2, The Holmes Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  7. 1910 August 4, Arkansas Gazette, Iowa Insurgents Sweep Convention, Start Page 1, Quote Page 3, Column 5, Little Rock, Arkansas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  8. 1915, The Stakes of Diplomacy by Walter Lippmann, Part 1, Chapter 4: The Line of Least Resistance, Quote Page 51 and 52, Henry Holt and Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  9. 1916 June, Political Science Quarterly, Volume 31, Number 2, Section: Reviews, Review by F. P. Keppel (Columbia University), (Review of Walter Lippmann’s “The Stakes of Diplomacy”), Start Page 318, Quote Page 318, Ginn and Company, Lancaster, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  10. 1918 March 7, Dayton Daily News, (Advertisement for Rev. J. Morris Evans of First Unitarian Church), Quote Page 2, Column 6, Dayton, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  11. 1919 March 10, The Evening News, Prof. Krehbiel Speaker before Local Alumnae, Quote Page 2, Column 1, San Jose, California. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
  12. 1922 March 3, San Jose Mercury Herald, Edward Krehbiel Discusses Business at Chamber Forum, Quote Page 8, San Jose, California. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
  13. 1931 December 1, The Kansas City Star, Kansas Notes, Quote Page 24, Column 5, Kansas City, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  14. 1934 March, Reader’s Digest, Volume 24, Quotable Quotes, Quote Page 52, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
  15. 1935 March 28, Baptist and Reflector, The Bird in the Bush by Jeff D. Ray, Quote Page 16, Column 2, Nashville, Tennessee. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  16. 1942 January 24, Elmira Star-Gazette, Voices Opposition To Fighting Abroad by Charlotte Hull, Quote Page 4, Column 1, Elmira, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  17. 1949 August 22, The Kingston Daily Freeman, The Ruminator: A Column of Contrary Opinion by Humphrey B. Neill, Quote Page 2, Column 5, Kingston, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  18. 1955 July 7, The Gazette and Daily, Section: Editorial, Food For Thought by C. M. Gitt, Quote Page 18, Column 4, York, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  19. 1959 September 8, The Los Angeles Times, Section: Letters To the Times, Letter title: 2-Way Street, Letter from: Jeannette Mason of Los Angeles, Quote Page 4, Column 5, Los Angeles, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  20. 1964 January 11, The Dallas Morning News, Section: Letters From Readers, Letter title: Strength in Difference, Letter from: Mrs. Philip L. Collins, Section 4, Quote Page 2, Column 4, Dallas, Texas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  21. 1976 December 8, The Boston Globe, So you think you think by John M. Richmond, Quote Page 21, Column 3, Boston, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  22. 1977, Quote Unquote, Compiled by Lloyd Cory, Topic: Thinking, Quote Page 337, Published by Victor Books: A Division of SP Publications, Wheaton, Illinois. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
  23. 1979, I Remember General Patton’s Principles by Porter B. Williamson, Chapter 5: Principles For Making Decisions, Section: No one is thinking if everyone is thinking alike, Quote Page 104, MSC Management and Systems Consultants, Tucson, Arizona. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  24. 1979, I Remember General Patton’s Principles by Porter B. Williamson, Quote on Back Page, MSC Management and Systems Consultants, Tucson, Arizona. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  25. 1988 May 1, The Charlotte Observer, Today’s Quote, Quote Page 2C, Column 1, Charlotte, North Carolina. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  26. 1989, The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations by Robert Andrews, Topic: Conformity, Quote Page 51, Columbia University Press, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  27. 1990 Copyright, Great Quotes From Great Leaders, Compiled by Peggy Anderson, Entry: George S. Patton, Quote Page 123, Celebrating Excellence Publishing, Lombard, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  28. 1995 February 21, Sun Advocate, Section: Editorial, Defuse volatile rumors with facts by Kevin Ashby (Sun Advocate publisher), Quote Page 1B, Column 1, Price, Utah. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  29. 1997 October 17, Times Record News, Section: The Sheppard Senator, Good followership: Backbone to organizational success by Col. Robert May, Quote Page 4, Column 4, Wichita Falls, Texas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  30. 2014, How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg with Alan Eagle, Chapter: Decisions—The True Meaning of Consensus, Quote Page 154, Grand Central Publishing, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎