Quote Origin: Even If You Are On the Right Track You Will Get Run Over If You Just Sit There

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Mark Twain? Will Rogers? Tom Sims? Arthur Godfrey? Anonymous?

Picture of tree-lined pathway from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: You must stay active and alert to have a fulfilling life. Two famous U.S. humorists, Mark Twain and Will Rogers, have been credited with the following remark:

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

Yet, I have been unable to find any solid citations pointing to either Twain or Rogers. Would you please explore the provenance of this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence supporting the attributions to Mark Twain and Will Rogers. The earliest citations which credit them appeared many years after their deaths.

The earliest match found by QI occurred in March 1925 within a syndicated column titled “Tom Sims Says” which  was printed in newspapers such as “The Sheboygan Press” of Wisconsin1 and “The Indianapolis Times” of Indiana.2 The column contained miscellaneous jokes and observations. Here were three items. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:

The straight and narrow path is plenty wide for its traffic.

Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there.

Love is blind. But there is always some friend who thinks he is an eye doctor.

Based on this evidence QI believes Tom Sims is the most likely creator of this quip.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

On the same day, the column containing the joke was also published under the title “Smile-A-While” by Tom Sims in “The Saginaw News Courier” of Michigan.3

One week later, “The News-Herald” of Franklin, Pennsylvania printed the saying with an acknowledgement but without an attribution:4

Erie Dispatch-Herald: Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

In December 1925, “The Atlanta Constitution” of Georgia printed a version with the word “probable”:5

There’s a whole hustling sermon packed in this paragraph from the Clarksdale Journal:

“Even if you’re on the right track it’s probable you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

In 1931, “The Film Daily” of New York published an anonymous instance with the word “liable”:6

… that even if you are on the right track, you’re liable to get run over if you just sit there …

In 1947 “Gems Of Expression” compiled by Wendell Ware included the quip without attribution:7

Even if you are on the right track, you will be run over if you just sit there.

In 1970 “Forbes” printed the joke with an attribution to Will Rogers on a page titled “Thoughts On the Business of Life”:8

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. —Will Rogers

Two weeks later in 1970, the “Sunday Call-Chronicle” of printed an advertisement for a clothing store containing the following text:9

Gem of thought:—Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
—WILL ROGERS

In 1975 the “Sentinel Star” of Orlando, Florida attributed the joke to a popular U.S. entertainer:10

Even if you’re on the right track — you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
ARTHUR GODFREY

In 1977 the compilation “Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time” contained this entry:11

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. —Will Rogers

In 1980 “Mac’s Giant Book of Quips & Quotes” contained a version using the word “may”. No attribution was listed:12

Even if you are on the right track, you may get run over if you sit there long enough.

In 1984, “The Philadelphia Inquirer” of Pennsylvania printed an advertisement for Gwynedd-Mercy College which ascribed the quip to Twain:13

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Mark Twain

In 1985 “Oak Hill Times” of Swayzee, Indiana published a variant joke:14

“Even if you are on the right track, you won’t get anywhere if you just sit there.”

In 1985,  “The Gazette” of Montreal, Canada printed comments made by financial advisor Brian Costello:15

To make sure his point hits home, he offers a quote from Mark Twain: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” The famed humorist was probably not pondering money matters when he wrote those sage words, but Costello thinks the quote contains a message consumers should heed.

In 1992, “And I Quote: The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker” included the following item:16

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
—Will Rogers

In conclusion, this quip appeared in a column by Tom Sims in March 1925, and he is the most likely creator. Will Rogers died in 1935, and he received credit by 1970. Mark Twain died in 1910, and he received credit by 1984. The time delay in both cases was excessive; hence, these two attributions were not substantive.

Image Notes: Picture of tree-lined pathway from Mario Dobelmann at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Alex whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

  1. 1925 March 7, The Sheboygan Press, Tom Sims Says, Quote Page 24, Column 3, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  2. 1925 March 7, The Indianapolis Times, Tom Sims Says, Quote Page 4, Column 3, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  3. 1925 March 7, The Saginaw News Courier, Smile-A-While by Tom Sims, Quote Page 6, Column 6, Saginaw, Michigan. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  4. 1925 March 13, The News-Herald, Among Our Exchanges, Quote Page 4, Column 3, Franklin, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  5. 1925 December 17, The Atlanta Constitution, Just From Georgia by Frank L. Stanton, Quote Page 8, Column 3, Atlanta, Georgia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  6. 1931 January 26, The Film Daily, Along the Rialto with Phil M. Daly, Quote Page 5, Column 2, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  7. 1947, Gems Of Expression, Compiled by Wendell Ware, Chapter 111: Action, Quote Page 206, Wetzel Publishing Co., Inc. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  8. 1970 November 15, Forbes, Thoughts On the Business of Life, Quote Page 96, Column 3, Forbes Inc, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  9. 1970 November 29, Sunday Call-Chronicle, (Advertisement for clothing store Emil & Otto), Quote Page E6, Column 1, Allentown, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  10. 1975 September 9, Sentinel Star, Thoughts of Man, Quote Page 10A, Column 4, Orlando, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  11. 1977, Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time, Compiled by Laurence J. Peter, Section: Competence / Incompetence, Quote Page 125, William Morrow and Company, New York. (Verified with hardcopy) ↩︎
  12. 1980, Mac’s Giant Book of Quips & Quotes by E. C. McKenzie, Topic: Idleness, Quote Page 259, Column 2, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  13. 1984 August 12, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Take the Gwynedd Express, (Advertisement for Gwynedd-Mercy College of Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania), Quote Page 38S, Column 2, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  14. 1985 February 14, Oak Hill Times, Swayzee Tid-Bits by Gladys Jarvis, Quote Page 4, Column 3, Swayzee, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  15. 1985 May 7, The Gazette, Section: Royal Bank Reporter, Acquiring Money Wisdom, Quote Page 11, Column 1, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  16. 1992, And I Quote: The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker by Ashton Applewhite, William R. Evans III, and Andrew Frothingham, Topic: Action, Quote Page 7, A Thomas Dunne Book: St. Martin’s Press, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎