Groucho Marx? Spike Milligan? Lydia Augusta Arsens? Tramp Starr? Dr. Parr? John Conolly? John Stuart Blackie? Tom Chalmers? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: The word “cracked” has several slang meanings. The traditional slang meaning is crazy, foolish, or eccentric. Here are three versions of a comical saying which uses wordplay:
(1) You’ve got to be cracked to let the light in.
(2) Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.
(3) They were certainly cracked: but the crack let in light.
This quip has been attributed to Irish comedian Spike Milligan, Canadian politician Lydia Augusta Arsens, U.S comedian Groucho Marx, pseudonymous humorist Tramp Starr, Scottish classical scholar John Stuart Blackie, and others. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match found by QI appeared in an 1830 book titled “An Inquiry Concerning the Indications of Insanity” by John Conolly, Professor of Medicine at the University of London. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Every county presents one or more specimens of individuals who are reputed scientific by those more ignorant of science than themselves; eccentric men, whose wandering attention has travelled over every subject … in the opinion of their neighbours, they become accounted “wonderfully clever men, but certainly a little mad.” The learned and benevolent Dr. Parr used to say of such men, that they were certainly cracked: but that the crack let in light;—and even then, it is to be feared, he estimated them too highly.
Dr. Parr probably corresponded to English scholar Samuel Parr who died in 1825. Parr is currently the leading candidate for coiner of this quip.
In 1841 English surgeon Walter Cooper Dendy published “The Philosophy of Mystery” which included a student character named Astrophel. This character credited the quip to Samuel Parr:2
But say, if there be (in vulgar words) a crack in this cranium of mine, may not this crack, as saith the learned Samuel Parr, “let in the light?”
If prophetic visions in the early ages came over the dying, why not in ours?
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1845 “The North American Review” of Boston, Massachusetts published an article titled “The Jurisprudence of Insanity” which contained the following passage:3
The favorite project is often of so benevolent a character, or the individual frequently accomplishes so much for the cause of science by his devotion to a single object of inquiry, that we are forced to respect his motives or his powers, though we may smile at his delusion. Their neighbours consider them “wonderfully clever men, but certainly a little mad.” Dr. Parr was wont to say of them, that they were certainly cracked, but that the crack let in light.
In January 1845 the “New-York Tribune” published a piece which referred to the article in “The North American Review”:4
Of the devotees to a single object, who buy its achievement by what borders on monomania, “Dr. Parr was wont to say that they were certainly cracked, but that the crack let in light.”
The 1848 reference book “Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to The United States” included the following entry for “cracked”:5
CRACKED. Crazy
To such an extent may these discrepancies be carried, that a man of genius is considered cracked;—an expression which led Dr. Parr to say, “that such men were decidedly cracked, but that the crack let in the light.” — Millengen, Mind and Matter, 1847.
In 1878 the “Central Presbyterian” of Richmond, Virginia did not credit Dr Parr; instead, the quip was applied to him. Samuel Parr earned a law degree from University of Cambridge, but he was not a professor there:6
If during a considerable portion of his life he was to a certain degree insane—which many think—it was, as some one said of the celebrated Cambridge Professor, Dr. Parr, a crack in his head that let in light.
In 1885 “The Pawnee Republican” of Pawnee City, Nebraska printed an article about Reverend Joseph Cook who was scheduled to present a lecture the following week:7
The present writer once asked one of his old teachers if he did not think that Mr. Cook was a little “cracked?” “Well, if he is, we must confess that the crack lets in the light,” was the epigrammatic reply.
In 1896 a newspaper in Cincinnati, Ohio published an anecdote about John Stuart Blackie who had been a Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh:8
“I dare say ye’ve heard that many folk think I’m a wee bit cracked,” said the famous Professor John Stuart Blackie of Edinburgh, in conversation with a young student, and he tapped his forehead with his finger as he spoke; “but never forgot, laddie, that as Tom Chalmers once said, a crack often lets in the light.”
In 1908 a piece in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” of St. Louis, Missouri applied the joke to Russian writer Leo Tolstoy:9
“Tolstoi is one of those rare men to whom the English aphorism, ‘They are certainly cracked, but the crack lets in light,’ might apply. In a word, Tolstoi was a semi-insane genius.”
In 1920 “The Indianapolis Star” of Indianapolis, Indiana attributed the joke to Tramp Starr, a pseudonym of journalist William Carl Wilson:10
“What difference does it make if a fellow is a little cracked?” asks Tramp Starr, “if the crack lets the light in?”
In 1955 Canadian politician Lydia Augusta Arsens employed a version of the quip:11
“We are not ashamed of being called crackpots, as crackpots have been the leaders of the world,” Mrs. Arsens said. “When people are cracked, it lets light into the skulls.”
In 1984 a newspaper in Taylorsville, Kentucky printed an advertisement for a chiropractor which contained the following:12
Quip for today: You got to be cracked to let the light in.
In 1988 “The Daily Telegraph” published a review of the book “Eccentrics: The Scientific Investigation”. The joke appeared in the book where it was attributed to an unnamed eccentric:13
One chapter is headed: “The Eighth Beatitude, according to an eccentric: Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.”
In 1989 the “Daily Record” of Glasgow, Scotland mentioned an upcoming program starring Spike Milligan. The name of the program was based on the quip:14
Trust Spike Milligan to be behind one of the craziest-ever programme titles. The former Goon is hosting a series called Blessed Are The Cracked … For They Shall Let In The Light. In the pursuit of this, Spike will travel the country interviewing well-known eccentrics.
In 1993 “The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Quotations” contained the following entry:15
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light. [In David Weeks with Kate Ward, Eccentrics: The Scientific Investigation, Ch. 3]
In 2007 the book “Journeys with the Black Dog” attributed the quip to comedian Groucho Marx who had died in 1977:16
Groucho Marx once said: ‘Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.’
A separate Quote Investigator article examines the statement: “We are all broken. That’s how the light gets in”. This statement about resilience and healing is not intended to be humorous.
In conclusion, the earliest match appeared in an 1830 book by Dr. John Conolly who credited Dr. Parr. A citation in 1841 identified Dr. Parr as English scholar Samuel Parr who is the most likely creator of the quip. The version beginning with the words “Blessed Are” appeared in a 1988 book where it was credited to an unnamed eccentric.
Image Notes: Public domain image of a dark sphere with illuminated cracks. Image has been retouched and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Steve Hicks whose message led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Hicks noted that the joke had been credited to Spike Milligan, Groucho Marx, and Shaun O’Reilly. Special thanks to Stephen Goranson who found the 1841 citation and suggested that Dr. Parr corresponded to Samuel Parr.
- 1830, An Inquiry Concerning the Indications of Insanity by John Conolly M.D. (Professor of Medicine in the University of London), by Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Chapter 5: Inequalities, Weaknesses, and Peculiarities of the Human Understanding Which Do Not Amount to Insanity, Quote Page 129, Printed for John Taylor, Bookseller and Publisher to The University of London, London, England. (Internet Archive at archive.org) link ↩︎
- 1841, The Philosophy of Mystery by Walter Cooper Dendy, Chapter: Phantasy from Cerebral Excitement, Quote Page 75, Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1845 January, The North American Review, Volume 60, Number 126, The Jurisprudence of Insanity, Start Page 1, Quote Page 26, Otis, Broaders, and Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1845 January 13, New-York Tribune, The North American Review (Discussion of article titled “The Jurisprudence of Insanity” in The North American Review), Quote Page 1, Column 2, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1848, Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to The United States by John Russell Bartlett (Corresponding Secretary of the American Ethnological Society), Entry: Cracked, Quote Page 96, Bartlett and Welford, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1878 April 3, Central Presbyterian, Recent Publications (Book review of “Home Reminiscences of John Randolph of Roanoke”), Quote Page 2, Column 3, Richmond, Virginia. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1885 April 30, The Pawnee Republican, “Does Death End All?”, Quote Page 4, Column 1, Pawnee City, Nebraska. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1896 February 27, The American Israelite, Quote Page 7, Column 4 and 5, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1908 January 12, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Section: Sunday Post-Dispatch Magazine, Pick Out Your Brand of Insanity, Quote Page 6, Column 3, St. Louis, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1920 November 17, The Indianapolis Star, Solomon Often Did Worse, Quote Page 6, Column 4, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1955 February 11, The Vancouver Herald, Watch Your Taxes Going Forth to Maintain the High Standards of Our Modern Jails and Mental Hospitals by Kenneth Drury (Associate Editor, The Herald), Quote Page 4, Column 4, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1984 March 15, The Spencer Magnet, Chiropractic Talk by Dr. James C. Distler (Advertisement), Quote Page 3, Column 6, Taylorsville, Kentucky. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1988 May 21, The Daily Telegraph, Section: Weekend, Slightly dotty (Book review by Martyn Goff of “Eccentrics: The Scientific Investigation” by David Weeks with Kate Ward), Quote Page X (10), Column 2, London, England. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1989 June 10, Daily Record, Back Chat! Trust Spike, Quote Page 21, Column 1, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1993 Copyright, The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Quotations, Edited by J. M. Cohen and M. J. Cohen, Section: Anonymous, Quote Page 9, Column 1, Viking: The Penguin Group, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2007 Copyright, Journeys with the Black Dog: Inspirational Stories of Bringing Depression to Heel, Edited by Tessa Wigney, Kerrie Eyers, and Gordon Parker, Chapter: Blessed are the cracked, Quote Page 22, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest NSW, Australia. (Verified with scans) ↩︎