Rex Harrison? Ian Sinclair? Harry Cohn? Kenneth R. Smith? Marie Michael? Terry Goodkind? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: A powerful person once delivered a line that vividly combined anger and arrogance. After the individual harshly scolded an underling, an assistant said that the incessant episodes of rage might lead to a heart attack. The reply was sharp:
I don’t get heart attacks. I give them.
This statement has been attributed to English actor Rex Harrison, Canadian railway executive Ian Sinclair, movie mogul Harry Cohn, and others. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match for the heart attack quip found by QI appeared in 1951. An anonymous executive with the generic name “Brown” delivered the line. The tale appeared in “The Agricultural Education Magazine”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
And then I told him the old story of the executive in a manufacturing concern who was giving one of his foremen a dressing down over the telephone for not turning out greater production from his department. A visitor was at the desk of the manufacturer and listened to the driving conversation.
When the receiver was hung up, the visitor remarked, “Mr. Brown, if you do that very often you are going to get a heart attack.” The irate manufacturer’s reply was, “I don’t get heart attacks, I give them.”
This quip is part of a family. Here are three examples:
(1) I don’t get ulcers. I give them.
(2) I don’t get heart attacks, I give them.
(3) I don’t have nightmares. I give them.
The earliest match in this family found by QI referred to ulcers. An unnamed egotistical Hollywood producer delivered the line according to gossip columnist Jimmie Fidler in March 1947:2
Seems one of his employes, after listening to the big shot administer a fifteen-minute tongue-lashing to an assistant, ventured one solicitous remark. “You shouldn’t let yourself become so excited,” he warned. “You’re liable to get stomach ulcers.” “I don’t get ulcers,” roared the mighty one, “I give them!”
A separate article about the ulcer quip is available here.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1974 doctor Marshall Franklin et al published “The Heart Doctors’ Heart Book” which contained a passage about a beleaguered woman who worked for a prominent beauty company:3
She was in charge of the colors for the new lipsticks in one of the famous cosmetic houses, and her boss, an erratic high-strung genius, often boasted: “I don’t get heart attacks. I give them.”
In 1976 “The Austin American-Statesman” of Austin, Texas published an article about the fantasy artist Kenneth R. Smith who used the nightmare version of the quip:4
Kenneth Smith doesn’t have creepy nightmares. “I give them away to other people,” he smiles. His vivid paintings and drawings could well produce diabolical dreams in viewers who tremble at the thought of giant reptiles or brilliantly colored beasts.
But they brought awe and delight to the hundreds of science fiction and fantasy devotees who trooped through Smith’s suite during the weekend’s Fantasy Film Festival and Comic Collector’s Convention in Austin.
In 1980 a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing about improving the workplace. An executive testified about his experience working in the automotive industry:5
Unfortunately, traditional management techniques have no mechanisms to cope with employee opinions. I am a product of an authoritarian management. I started my working career—in the automobile industry, because I come from Detroit—under a man who said, “I don’t get heart attacks, I give them.”
In 1984 the romance novel “Irresistible Forces” by Marie Michael employed an instance of the riposte:6
“I don’t have heart attacks, Rutledge, I give them!” Bowman bellowed.
In 1988 “The Gazette” of Montreal, Canada printed a review of a book about the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway). The retort was attributed to a former president of the railway:7
Of the six CPR presidents whose stories they tell in this volume, only one — George Stephen —did not strike terror in the hearts of his subordinates.
Ian Sinclair — president for much of the ’60s and ’70s — spoke for the rest, “I don’t get heart attacks … I give them,” the company’s tenth president said.
In 1989 a journalist of “The Palm Beach Post” of Florida attributed the quip to movie producer Harry Cohn:8
Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, coined the phrase “I don’t get heart attacks, I give them.” He was an early proponent of the theory of creative tension in the workplace. If you could stand him, he was fair.
In 1997 Terry Goodkind published the fantasy novel “Temple of the Winds” which contained an instance of the nightmare rejoinder:9
“You must be dreaming,” Cara said.
His gaze shifted to the Mord-Sith. “Dreaming? Maybe you’re dreaming. Maybe I’m your worst nightmare.”
“I don’t have nightmares,” Cara said. “I give them.”
In 1998 Patrick Garland published “The Incomparable Rex: A Memoir of Rex Harrison in the 1980s” which attributed the expression to Harrison:10
It had been said of him on one occasion, when he erupted into one of his violent rages, that he would injure himself one day and have a heart attack. ‘I don’t have heart attacks,’ shouted Rex, ‘I give them to other people.’
In conclusion, the version of the quip using heart attack was circulating by 1951. The speaker was an anonymous business executive within a joke that was described as an “old story” in the periodical “The Agricultural Education Magazine”. This riposte was attributed to Ian Sinclair in 1988, Harry Cohn in 1989, and Rex Harrison in 1998.
The version of the quip using ulcer was circulating by 1947. The speaker was an anonymous movie producer. The version of the quip using nightmare was spoken by fantasy artist Kenneth R. Smith in 1976.
Image Notes: Picture of a heart in neon from Olivier Collet at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to researcher Nigel Rees who mentioned this quip in his April 2025 newsletter. Rees presented the important citation in “The Incomparable Rex”. This led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1951 October, The Agricultural Education Magazine, Stay home nights and live longer by C. S. Anderson (Teacher Education, The Pennsylvania State College), Start Page 82, Quote Page 82, Column 2, Interstate Printers and Publishers, Danville, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1947 March 31, The Democrat and Leader (Quad-City Times), In Hollywood by Jimmy Fidler (Jimmie Fidler), Quote Page 7, Column 2, Davenport, Iowa. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1974 Copyright, The Heart Doctors’ Heart Book by Marshall Franklin MD, Martin Krauthamer MD, A. Razzak Tai MD and Ann Pinchot, Part II: Heart Diseases, Chapter 9: Other heart diseases: serious, benign and masquerade, Quote Page 118, Grosset & Dunlap, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1976 April 12, The Austin American-Statesman, Fantasy art takes viewer into vivid dream world by Rosemary Beales (Staff Writer), Section: Austin Focus, Quote Page B1, Column 1, Austin, Texas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1980, House of Representatives, Ninety-Sixth Congress, Second Session, San Diego, California, October 14, 1980, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, Quality of Production and Improvement in the Workplace, Statement of Robert Patchin, Director of Productivity Improvement Programs in the Aircraft Division of Northrop Corp., Start Page 98, Quote Page 100, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1984, Irresistible Forces by Marie Michael, Loveswept Number 37, Chapter 8, Quote Page 110, Bantam Books, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1988 November 12, The Gazette, The men of steel who ran the CPR by Robert Stewart (Special to The Gazette), (Book review of “Lords of the Line” by David Cruise and Alison Griffiths), Quote Page K11, Column 1, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1989 April 30, The Palm Beach Post, Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Boss? by Jenny Vogt (Palm Beach Post Staff Writer), Article in Box: … and you think your boss is bad, Section: Accent, Quote Page F1, Column 3, West Palm Beach, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1997 Copyright, Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind, Book Four of The Sword of Truth, Chapter 2, Quote Page 23, A Tor Book: Tom Doherty Associates, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1999 (1998 Copyright), The Incomparable Rex: A Memoir of Rex Harrison in the 1980s by Patrick Garland, Chapter 16: Rex in the Piazza, Quote Page 74 and 75, Pan Books: An Imprint of Macmillan Publishers, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎