A. H. Weiler? Earl Wilson? Mitch Miller? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Grandiose managers brag of the monumental tasks they can accomplish. This unrealistic attitude is reflected in a quip:
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
Newspaper editor A. H. Weiler has received credit for this joke, but I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match known to QI appeared in July 1954 within the investment magazine “Changing Times: The Kiplinger Magazine”. The quip was grouped with miscellaneous humorous statements, and no ascription was specified. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Nothing is impossible to the chap who doesn’t have to do it himself.
Thus, the creator remains anonymous. A. H. Weiler received credit in 1968, but the long delay reduced the credibility of the attribution.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
On July 10, 1954, a newspaper in Two Rivers, Wisconsin printed the quip in a humor column without attribution:2
Nothing is impossible to the chap who doesn’t have to do it himself.
On July 29, 1954, a newspaper in Salinas Californian printed a variant with “fellow” instead of “chap”. No attribution was specified:3
Nothing is impossible to the fellow who doesn’t have to do it himself.
In September 1954, the widely syndicated columnist Earl Wilson published a variant with “man” instead of “chap” or “fellow”:4
Earl’s Pearls …
Nothing is impossible to the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
In October 1954 “Quote: The Weekly Digest” printed the following:5
Nothing is impossible to the chap who doesn’t have to do it himself. — Pipe Dreams, hm, Universal Concrete Pipe Co.
In 1961 a newspaper in Long Beach, California attributed the quip to a popular musician:6
MITCH MILLER returning to NBC-TV on Sept. 28, notes that nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
In 1965 syndicated columnist Earl Wilson printed the joke again:7
REMEMBERED QUOTE:
“Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.” — Grit.
In 1968 Harold Faber printed an instance in “The New York Times”. Faber was the editorial director of the Book and Educational Division of the newspaper. Faber credited A. H. Weiler with the quip, and he stated that it appeared in a memo:8
Weiler’s Law: “Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.”
A. H. Weiler, movie editor of The New York Times, in a privately circulated memorandum.
In 1977 Lloyd Cory compiled and published the book “Quote Unquote” which contained this entry:9
(Weiler’s Law): Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
In 1979 Harold Faber compiled and published “The Book of Laws” which contained this entry:10
WEILER’S LAW
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
(A. H. Weiler, quoted in The New York Times, March 17, 1968.)
In 1996 “The International Thesaurus of Quotations” included the following entry:11
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
A. H. WEILER, IN A PRIVATELY CIRCULATED MEMORANDUM OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
In conclusion, this quip appeared in July 1954. The earliest citations did not include an attribution. The ascriptions to Mitch Miller and A. H. Weiler only occurred after the joke was in circulation.
Image Notes: Picture of an incomplete jigsaw puzzle from Reid Naaykens at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to researcher Nigel Rees who mentioned this quip in the July 2025 issue of “The ‘Quote…Unquote’ Newsletter”. Rees noted that the remark has often been attributed to A. H. Weiler. Thanks to researcher Barry Popik who explored this quip and found the important citation in “Changing Times: The Kiplinger Magazine” together with other helpful citations. Popik’s website is here.
- 1954 July, Changing Times: The Kiplinger Magazine, Volume 8, Number 7, NOTES on these changing times, Quote Page 2, Column 3, The Kiplinger Washington Agency, Washington D.C. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1954 July 10, Two Rivers Reporter, Joe Par Dru, Quote Page 2, Column 5, Two Rivers, Wisconsin. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1954 July 29, Salinas Californian, Look Out Below by W.M.G.—The Senator, Quote Page 1, Column 8, Salinas, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1954 September 17, The News, Hillbillies: It Happened Last Night by Earl Wilson, Quote Page 8, Column 2, Lynchburg, Virginia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1954 October 10, Quote: The Weekly Digest, Volume 28, Number 15, Wise Cracks, Quote Page 13, Column 2, Droke House, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1961 August 29, Press-Telegram, ‘Playhouse 90’ Presents ‘Made in Japan’ Repeat by Terry Vernon, Quote Page D3, Column 3, Long Beach, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1965 April 17, The Sanford Herald, It Happened Last Night: Maurice Chevalier Escorts Jackie by Earl Wilson, Quote Page 4, Column 3, Sanford, North Carolina. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1968 March 17, New York Times, Section: The New York Times Magazine, Faber’s Law: If There Isn’t A Law, There Will Be by Harold Faber, Start Page 116, Quote Page 117, Column 3, New York. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1977, Quote Unquote, Compiled by Lloyd Cory, Section: Laws, Quote Page 175, Published by Victor Books: A Division of SP Publications, Wheaton, Illinois. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
- 1979, The Book of Laws, Compiled by Harold Faber, Chapter 11: The Laws of Everything Else, Quote Page 113, Times Books, New York. (Verified with hardcopy) ↩︎
- 1996, The International Thesaurus of Quotations, Compiled by Eugene Ehrlich and Marshall DeBruhl, (Revised and Updated), Topic: Executives, Quote Page 205, HarperResource: HarperCollins, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎