Adage Origin: Inside Every Fat Person is a Thin Person Trying to Get Out

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George Orwell? Cyril Connolly? Margaret Marshall? Kingsley Amis? Kit Reed? Anonymous?

Matryoshka dolls from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: Societal attitudes toward body weight and body image have changed, and this topic can be controversial. I recall the following adage from decades in the past:

Inside every fat person is a slim one who wants to get out.

I do not remember the precise phrasing. This notion has been attributed to English novelist George Orwell and English literary critic Cyril Connolly. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: A passage containing a partial match occurred in the 1939 novel “Coming Up for Air” by George Orwell. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

I’m fat, but I’m thin inside. Has it ever struck you that there’s a thin man inside every fat man, just as they say there’s a statue inside every block of stone?

In 1944 Cyril Connolly published “The Unquiet Grave” which included the following short item:2

Imprisoned in every fat man a thin one is wildly signalling to be let out.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1945 “The Nation” journal of New York published a book review by Margaret Marshall of Cyril Connolly’s novel. Marshall found Connolly’s remark about weight clever and she reprinted it:3

I do not know how much Mr. Connolly weighs, but aside from the fact that obesity has not hitherto figured as an indication of literary merit, I don’t see how anyone could use it as a weapon with which to attack a man who himself confesses, ruefully, that he is overweight and who nevertheless has the agility and wit to say that “imprisoned in every fat man a thin one is wildly signaling to be let out.”

In 1947 “Science News Letter” of Washington D.C. printed an article titled “Obesity Hides Insecurity” which contained the following passage:4

The essence of the problem of fatness, she said, is expressed in the saying of a modern writer, “Imprisoned in every fat man, a thin one is wildly signalling to be let out.”

In January 1950 a newspaper in Portland, Maine published a book review of Orwell’s “Coming Up for Air”. The reviewer reprinted Orwell’s remark about weight:5

There is a thread of rather wistful humor throughout, the story, such as when he reminds that inside every fat man there is a thin man, just as there is a statue in every block of granite.

In February 1950 a newspaper in Mount Barker, South Australia published an article that began with the following epigraph:6

“Inside every fat man there is a thin man trying to escape.”

In April 1952 “The Cincinnati Enquirer” of Ohio and other newspapers printed an advertisement for diet pills which stated the following:7

Inside every fat woman is the alluringly slim creature she used to be! Release her with TEK-TROL.

In July 1952 the “Spokane Daily Chronicle” of Washington published an advertisement for diet pills from “The Raymond Natural Food Store” which included the following statement:8

Inside every fat person is A SLIM one who wants to get out.

In 1955 a newspaper in Mason City, Iowa printed the following as a filler item:9

In every fat man there is a slim one wildly signaling for release.

In 1957 the “Democrat and Chronicle” of Rochester, New York printed an instance of the saying:10

You know an ancient philosopher once said, “In every fat man there is a slim one signaling wildly to be released.

In 1958 “The Idaho Daily Statesman” of Boise, Idaho printed a syndicated fitness column by Ida Jean Kain which included the following:11

It has been said that inside every fat lady is a slim one wildly signaling to be let out.

In 1963 English novelist Kingsley Amis published “One Fat Englishman” which contained a comically twisted version of the saying:12

He sent his plate up now for a second helping of pancakes and put three chocolate mints into his mouth to tide him over. Outside every fat man there was an even fatter man trying to close in.

In 1974 writer Kit Reed published a collection of articles under the title “Fat”. Reed’s introduction to the book began with the following passage which inverted the proverb:13

I have at least two friends who claim to have said it first: “Inside every thin person, there’s a fat one screaming. . .” I know it is true of me.

In 1975 “The World” newspaper of Coos Bay, Oregon reviewed the book “Fat” and attributed the variant proverb directly to Reed:14

Fat doesn’t give thin people reason to be smug either, for as Kit Reed points out, “inside every thin person there’s a fat person screaming to get out.”

In conclusion, this proverb evolved over time. George Orwell presented a partial match in 1939. Cyril Connolly presented a match using different phrasing in 1944. In February 1950, a close match appeared using the word “escape”.

Image Notes: Picture of a set of nested dolls called Matryoshka dolls from Didssph at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to the reference works “Cassell’s Humorous Quotations” (2001) compiled by Nigel Rees and “What They Didn’t Say: A Book of Misquotations” (2006) edited by Elizabeth Knowles which contained helpful citations.

  1. 1978 (First published 1939), Coming Up for Air by George Orwell, Part 1, Chapter 3, Quote Page 24, Secker & Warburg, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  2. 1945 (First published 1944), The Unquiet Grave by Cyril Connolly, Part 2: Te Palinure Petens, Quote Page 44, Hamish Hamilton, London. (Note: “signaling” was spelled as “signalling” in the original text) (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  3. 1945 October 20, The Nation, Volume 161, Number 16, Section: Books and the Arts, Notes By the Way by Margaret Marshall, Start Page 405, Quote Page 405, Column 2, The Nation Associates Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  4. 1947 October 18, Science News Letter, Volume 52, Number 16, Obesity Hides Insecurity, Quote Page 253, Science Service Inc., Washington D.C. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  5. 1950 January 29, Portland Sunday Telegram, Section: Portland Sunday Telegram Magazine, New Orwell Novel Is Typically British by E. J. Seay (Book review of “Coming Up for Air” by George Orwell), Quote Page 5, Column 3 and 4, Portland, Maine. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  6. 1950 February 2, The Mount Barker Courier, Are You Overweight? (From the Official Bulletin of the Central Board of Health of S.A.), Quote Page 3, Column 3, Mount Barker, South Australia, Australia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  7. 1952 April 24, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Advertisement for diet pills Tek-Trol, Advertisement title: Dietless Reducing, Quote Page 2, Column 8, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  8. 1952 July 10, Spokane Daily Chronicle, Advertisement for The Raymond Natural Food Store, Advertisement title: Dietless Reducing, Quote Page 27, Column 1, Spokane, Washington. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  9. 1955 October 4, Mason City Globe-Gazette, (Filler item), Quote Page 11, Column 6, Mason City, Iowa. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  10. 1957 April 21, Democrat and Chronicle, Time to Balance Your Diet by Ethel L. Marth (Director, Nutrition and Canteen Service), Quote Page 7E, Column 4, Rochester, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  11. 1958 April 1, The Idaho Daily Statesman, Spark of Anger Starts a Diet by Ida Jean Kain, Quote Page 6, Column 4, Boise, Idaho. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  12. 1963 Copyright, One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis, Chapter 3, Quote Page 39, Harcourt, Brace & World, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  13. 1974, Fat, Collected by Kit Reed, Chapter: Introduction by Kit Reed, Quote Page 1, The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc., Indianapolis. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  14. 1975 April 11, The World, Reader’s book shelf choices: Thin person screaming by William Erdman, Quote Page 10A, Column 4, Coos Bay, Oregon. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎