Don Herold? Nadine Stair? Nadine Star? Frank Dickey? Helen S. Moor? Berton Braley? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Imagine you were given the opportunity to live your life over again. What changes would you make? A popular essay made suggestions such as the following:
(1) Pick more daisies
(2) Ride more merry-go-rounds
(3) Walk barefoot more often
The essay containing these recommendations has been attributed to Don Herold, Nadine Stair, and others. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match known to QI appeared in the December 1931 issue of “College Humor” magazine within a piece titled “I’d Pick More Daisies” by Don Herold.1
QI has not yet been able to access this magazine directly, but QI has been able to access an article in “The Punxsutawney Spirit” of Pennsylvania which discussed the “College Humor” piece and reprinted excerpts such as this:2
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall.
Don Herold employed the following self-description:
… one of those persons who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, and a parachute.
Herold’s essay also included these suggestions:
I would have more dogs.
I would keep later hours.
I would have more sweethearts.
Interestingly, the article in “The Punxsutawney Spirit” was dated November 3, 1931, whereas the piece in “College Humor” was dated December 1931. This was possible because magazine issues were typically released before their cover dates. The newspaper was able to access the article one month before the cover date.
During subsequent decades, several different names have been attached to the essay, e.g., Frank Dickey, Helen S. Moor, Nadine Star, and Nadine Stair. Also, the contents of the essay have changed. Sentences have been removed, and other sentences have been inserted into the text. The essays are copyrighted; hence, this analysis cannot present the full essays. Only excerpts are shown.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1912 “The Pensacola Journal” of Florida published the poem “Workaday Trio” by U.S. poet Berton Braley. The poem criticized living with a narrow fixation on work. Here was the first verse:3
If your nose is close to the grindstone rough,
And you hold it there long enough,
In time you’ll say there is no such thing
As brooks that babble or birds that sing:
These three will all of your world compose
Just you and the stone and your poor old nose!
The theme of Braley’s poem was similar to the theme of Herold’s essay. Hence, the verse above has sometimes been appended onto Herold’s essay without attribution. See the 1937 citation listed further below.
On November 8, 1931, “The Boston Herald” of Massachusetts printed a piece titled “He’d ‘Pick More Daisies'” which discussed Don Herold’s essay in “College Humor”.4 The newspaper reprinted excerpts matching the ones given previously, and also reprinted this hope filled statement:
If nations—to magnify my point—declared international carnivals instead of international war—how much better that would be.
On January 9, 1932 “The Toronto Star Weekly” of Ontario, Canada published “Pick More Daisies” by Don Herold which presented a condensed version of the essay.5
In 1935 “The Journal of Health and Physical Education” printed a speech by the President of the American Physical Education Association Strong Hinman. The speech contained a lengthy credited excerpt from the Herold’s essay in “College Humor”.6
In 1937 “Student Life” of Logan, Utah printed an article that was supplied to the newspaper by “one of Utah State’s best liked professors”. The article contained material from Herold’s essay, and it ended with five lines that closely matched the lines in Berton Braley’s 1912 poem:7
If you put your nose to the grindstone rough
And hold it down there long enough
You’ll soon forget there are any such things
As brooks that babble and birds that sing.
These three things will your world compose
Just you and the stone, and your darned old nose!
In 1953 “Reader’s Digest” published an updated version of “I’d Pick More Daisies” by Don Herold.8
In 1965 the widely syndicated columnist Bennett Cerf printed a version of the essay with the following introduction:9
When Dr. Frank Dickey, longtime president of the University of Kentucky, resigned that post for another educational assignment, he made a “farewell address” his audience still quotes.
In 1967 the “Corvallis Gazette-Times” of Oregon printed a version of the essay which concluded with five lines based on Berton Braley’s 1912 poem. The essay was introduced with the following paragraph:10
Last year, when Helen S. Moor retired from her position as dean of women at Oregon State University, she was guest speaker at a luncheon of OSU Mothers Club. As she concluded her talk that day she read a bit of philosophy entitled “I’d pick More Daisies”.
In 1975 the “Fort Lauderdale News” of Florida printed another version of the essay with the following final paragraph and attribution:11
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies. . . . Nadine Star, 85 calendar years old.
In 1976, popular advice columnist Ann Landers printed a version of the essay with the following introduction:12
The following was written by Nadine Stair of Louisville, Ky. She is 85 years old and I believe she has a real message here.
In conclusion, QI believes that Don Herold wrote the first version of this essay. It appeared under the title “I’d Pick More Daisies” in the December 1931 issue of “College Humor” magazine. Excerpts were reprinted in newspapers in 1931. During subsequent decades, the text has been modified with additions and subtractions. Also, the authorship has been reassigned to others including Nadine Star, Frank Dickey, and Helen S. Moor. In addition, Don Herold revised his own essay and published it in “Reader’s Digest” in 1953.
Image Notes: Picture of a field of daisies from Micheile Henderson at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Shantha Mohan whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to David C. Hill who previously explored this topic and created a helpful webpage on his website “WIST – Wish I’d Said That”.
- 1931 December, College Humor, Volume 10, Number 96, I’d Pick More Daisies by Don Herold, Start Page 10, Collegiate World Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois. (QI has only seen the cover and table of contents of this periodical via an eBay auction entry from mycomicshop in June 2025; QI has not yet seen the article directly in the magazine) ↩︎
- 1931 November 3, The Punxsutawney Spirit, Writer Would Make More Errors If He Had To Start Over, Quote Page 6, Column 7 and 8, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1912 May 23, The Pensacola Journal, People and Events, The Workaday Trio by Berton Braley, (Verse 1 of 3), Quote Page 5, Column 1, Pensacola, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1931 November 8, The Boston Herald, He’d “Pick More Daisies” If He Lived Life Over, Section B, Quote Page 2, Column 7, Boston, Massachusetts. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
- 1932 January 9, The Toronto Star Weekly, Section: General Section, Pick More Daisies by Don Herold, Quote Page 2, Column 1 and 2, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1935 May, The Journal of Health and Physical Education, Volume 6, Number 5, Cogwheels by Strong Hinman (President of the American Physical Education Association), Start Page 26, Quote Page 27, The American Physical Education Association, Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1937 May 14, Student Life, If I Could Live My Life Again, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Logan, Utah. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1953 October, Reader’s Digest, Volume 63, Number 378, “If I Had My Life to Live Over — “I’d Pick More Daisies” by Don Herold, Start Page 71, End Page 72, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1965 June 13, The Commercial Appeal, Try and Stop Me by Bennett Cerf, Quote Page 9, Column 1, Memphis, Tennessee. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1967 July 25, Corvallis Gazette-Times, Off the Beat by Mary Poucher, Quote Page 1, Column 1, and Page 2, Column 8, Corvallis, Oregon. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1975 March 18, Fort Lauderdale News, Wallie Nelsen’s Little Word: Dares and Chances Make Life A Thrill, Quote Page 8D, Column 3, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1976 March 24, The Dunsmuir News, 85-year-old dislikes her cautious lifestyle by Ann Landers, Quote Page 2, Column 2, Dunsmuir, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎