Quote Origin: I May Not Always Be Right, But I Am Never Wrong

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Samuel Goldwyn? Mrs. Jones? Cy Rigler? Margaret Grant? George Bernard Shaw? Harry Rapf? William Brown Meloney? Anonymous?

Picture representing unerring accuracy from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: Samuel Goldwyn was a powerful Hollywood movie mogul who was famous for humorous gaffes. His malapropisms and paradoxes became known as Goldwynisms. For example, while discussing the accuracy of his predictions Goldwyn reportedly said:

I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong.

Unfortunately, the majority of Goldwynisms are apocryphal. Clever lines were crafted by witty people and incorrectly reassigned to Goldwyn. Can you determine whether the line above was spoken or written by Samuel Goldwyn?

Reply from Quote Investigator: A closely matching but more elaborate version of this joke appeared in 1903 within several newspapers such as “The Seattle Post-Intelligencer” of Washington,1 “The Toronto Daily Star” of Canada,2 the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” of Missouri,3 and “The Philadelphia Inquirer” of Pennsylvania. Each of these newspapers acknowledged a periodical called “Comfort”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:4

A Distinction Without a Difference

Mr. Jones—It is useless my arguing with a woman who says she is always right.

Mrs. Jones—I never made any such assertion, and it’s utterly cruel and unkind of you to say so. I did not say I was always right. I simply asserted that I was never wrong. — Comfort.

QI tentatively credits this joke to the anonymous creator who published this item in “Comfort” magazine in 1903.

The concise version of this joke has been attributed to a variety of people. For example, in 1935 Major League Baseball umpire Cy Rigler received credit. In 1937 movie producer Harry Rapf received credit. In May 1938 pseudonymous novelist Margaret Grant employed the joke. In June 1938 movie producer Samuel Goldwyn received credit.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1916 playwright George Bernard Shaw penned a letter to H. G. Wells in which he brashly and comically asserted his infallibility:5

The longer I live the more I see that I am never wrong about anything, and that all the pains I have so humbly taken to verify my notions have only wasted my time.

In 1924 a newspaper in Moncton Parish, New Brunswick, Canada printed a thematically related item:6

A woman isn’t like a man; a woman she is always right; a man merely thinks he is never wrong.

 In April 1935 a sports journalist in a South Bend, Indiana newspaper published a remark which attributed the line to Cy Rigler who was a baseball umpire:7

… Rig’s … held to the theory that he might not always be right, but he was never wrong.

In June 1935 an article by Douglas Churchill about the movie star Myrna Loy mentioned that she was so unhappy with a film project that she eventually quit. The article used the comical statement under examination to criticize Hollywood executives in general:8

When Myrna first read the script she thought the studio was kidding. Then she learned that they meant it. She indicated misgivings and later voiced a feeble protest. But in Hollywood an executive is never wrong—he might not always be right but he’s never wrong.

In 1937 a gossip columnist ascribed the joke to movie producer Harry Rapf:9

Harry Rapf … told a group of writers: “I’m not always right, but I’m never wrong.”

In May 1938 the McClure Newspaper Syndicate serialized a novel titled “Call Back Love” by the pseudonymous author Margaret Grant (William Brown Meloney). The line was spoken by a fictional film producer named David Morris:10

I been in this business twenty years. My enemies, and I got a lot of them, will tell you I am modest enough to say that I might not always be right, but I am never wrong.

In June 1938 syndicated gossip columnist Walter Winchell ascribed the line to Samuel Goldwyn:11

Goldwyn says, “I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong.”

In 1945 Walter Winchell stated that he heard the line spoken at a nightclub in New York City:12

Sounds in the Night: In the Stork Club: “I may not always be right, but I am never wrong!”

In 1946 “A Treasury of Laughter” compiled by Louis Untermeyer attributed the line to Goldwyn:13

“Gentlemen,” Goldwyn is reported to have said at a conference about a scenario, “I’m willing to admit that I may not always be right—but I’m never wrong.”

In 1987 “Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language” compiled by Richard Lederer lists the following item as a Goldwynism:14

I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong.

In conclusion, a version of this joke appeared in “Comfort” magazine in 1903. The creator remains unknown. A concise version of the joke appeared in 1935 when it was ascribed to Major League Baseball umpire Cy Rigler. During subsequent years others received credit, e.g., Harry Rapf and Samuel Goldwyn.

Image Notes: Picture of a dart in the bullseye of a dartboard from Silvan Arnet at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized. Acknowledgement: Great thanks to author Vic DiGenti who mentioned this line in a newsletter. DiGenti noted the common attribution to Goldwyn which led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

  1. 1903 April 12, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, A Distinction Without a Difference (Acknowledgment to Comfort), Quote Page 31, Column 4, Seattle, Washington. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  2. 1903 May 15, The Toronto Daily Star, Distinction Without Difference (Acknowledgment to Comfort), Quote Page 6, Column 2, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  3. 1903 May 17, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Distinction Without Difference, Section 2, Quote Page 7, Column 7, St. Louis, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  4. 1903 May 28, The Philadelphia Inquirer, A Little Folly: Distinction Without Difference, Quote Page 8, Column 3, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  5. 1985, Bernard Shaw: Collected Letters 1911-1925, Edited by Dan H. Laurence, Letter To: H. G. Wells, Letter From: George Bernard Shaw, Letter Date: December 7, 1916, Quote Page 439, Viking Penguin, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  6. 1924 June 18, The Daily Times, Editor’s Comment, Quote Page 3, Column 4, Moncton, Moncton Parish, New Brunswick, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  7. 1935 April 17, The South Bend Tribune, Seen and Heard in Sport Realm by Jack Ledden (Tribune Sports Editor), Section 2, Start Page 2, Quote Page 3, Column 6, South Bend, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  8. 1935 June 9, The Detroit Free Press, Section: Screen & Radio Weekly, The Ugly Duckling Spanks Hollywood by Douglas Churchill, Quote Page 4, Column 4, Detroit, Michigan. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  9. 1937 August 23, Daily News, Hollywood by Sidney Skolsky, Quote Page 32, Column 3, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  10. 1938 May 6, Tampa Morning Tribune, “Call Back Love” by Margaret Grant (McClure Newspaper Syndicate), Chapter 6, Quote Page 14, Column 3, Tampa, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  11. 1938 June 29, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, Walter Winchell On Broadway, Quote Page 17, Column 2, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  12. 1945 May 23, Springfield Evening Union, Winchell On Broadway, Quote Page 3, Column 2, Springfield, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  13. 1946, A Treasury of Laughter, Selected and Edited by Louis Untermeyer, Section: Samuel Goldwyn, Quote Page 88, Simon and Schuster, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
  14. 1987, Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language by Richard Lederer, Chapter: Goldwynisms and Berraisms, Quote Page 88, Wyrick & Company, Charleston, South Carolina. (Verified on paper) ↩︎