Carl Sandburg? Ralph McGill? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: It is too easy to waste time on frivolous, foolish, or self-destructive pursuits. Apparently, a prominent literary figure once equated time to a valuable coin which each person must spend wisely. Would you please help me find the correct phrasing and a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Ralph McGill was a well-known journalist, editor, and publisher of “The Atlanta Constitution” newspaper in Georgia. In October 1959 McGill wrote a column in which he recalled a discussion he held with the popular poet and biographer Carl Sandburg. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
I keep remembering a conversation with Carl Sandburg.
“Time,” he said, “is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how to spend it. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
The accuracy of this quotation is dependent on the memory and veracity of Ralph McGill.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In November 1959 the “Santa Cruz Sentinel” of California and other newspapers printed a collection of statements under the title “Thoughts”. The quotation was reprinted in slightly altered form. The phrase “how to spend it” was replaced by “how it will be spent”:2
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.—Carl Sandburg.
In 1966 McGill published another column discussing Sandburg. The poet’s home was located on the slope of the Big Glassy Mountain in North Carolina, and McGill visited him in 1951. Sandburg spoke the quotation while the pair were sitting down on an outcropping after walking together. This version differed from the two phrasings in 1959 although all three instances communicated the same idea.3
“Too many persons allow loneliness to take them over. It is necessary to have within one’s self the ability to use loneliness. Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you.”
In 1971 “Reader’s Digest” printed a version that matched the November 1959 instance:4
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
—Carl Sandburg, quoted by Ralph McGill, Publishers-Hall Syndicate
In 1980 “The Best of Ralph McGill: Selected Columns” reprinted the 1966 column. Thus, the quotation achieved further distribution.5
“Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you.”
In 1982 “Good Advice” compiled by Leonard Safir and William Safire printed an entry that matched the November 1959 instance and credited Sandburg.6
In 1996 advice columnist Ann Landers published a letter containing a more elaborate instance of the saying:7
Dear Ann Landers: Please print these words of wisdom from Chicago’s own Carl Sandburg. They changed my life. He said, “Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.”
In conclusion, there is substantive evidence that Carl Sandburg employed this quotation. However, QI has not found it directly in Sandburg’s writings or speeches; instead, the quotation was relayed by journalist Ralph McGill who presented one version in October 1959 and another version in 1966. McGill said he heard it from Sandburg in 1951.
Image Notes: Illustration of a plant growing from coins from Micheile Henderson at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to fantasy and mystery author Vic DiGenti who mentioned this quotation in a newsletter which led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1959 October 10, The Atlanta Constitution, The Anatomy of a Fraud by Ralph McGill, Quote Page 1, Column 1, Atlanta, Georgia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1959 November 18, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Thoughts, Quote Page 11, Column 1, Santa Cruz, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1966 January 12, Buffalo Evening News, Sandburg, the Lonely Spirit by Ralph McGill, Quote Page 44, Column 5, Buffalo, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1971 March, Reader’s Digest, Volume 98, Number 587, Quotable Quotes, Quote Page 198, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1980, The Best of Ralph McGill: Selected Columns by Ralph McGill, Edited by Michael Strickland, Harry Davis, and Jeff Strickland, Column Title: Carl Sandburg Turns 88, Column Date: January 10, 1966, Quote Page 82, Cherokee Publishing Company, Atlanta, Georgia. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1982, Good Advice, Compiled by Leonard Safir and William Safire, Section: Time, Quote Page 338, Published by NYT Times Books, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
- 1996 September 16, Daily Advocate, Surgery patient humiliated by Ann Landers, Quote Page 2, Column 6, Greenville, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎