Tom Sims? Edgar Allan Poe? Mary Margaret McBride? Sidney K. Bennett? Clayton Rawson? George Stracke? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: A commonplace warning states that you should not believe everything you hear. But the following extreme version of this caution embodies even greater skepticism:
Don’t believe everything you think.
I once saw this statement on a bumper sticker. Would you please explore the provenance of this proverb?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1934 an exact match for the target statement appeared within an astrology column by “Wynn” which was a pseudonym for Sidney K. Bennett. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Don’t believe everything you think, especially today, particularly in money matters and relations with those in money professions, such as bankers, brokers, cashiers, et al.
QI believes that it is not possible to assign authorship of this proverb to a single individual. It developed over time. Here is an overview with dates which summarizes the evolution:
1845: Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see (Edgar Allan Poe)
1898: Don’t believe anything you think and only half what you know (Anonymous)
1925: It’s a great life if you don’t believe everything you see, hear, think or know (Tom Sims)
1926: Don’t believe everything you know (Student Verlie)
1930: Don’t believe everything you think and see when watching a football game (George Stracke)
1934: Don’t believe everything you think, especially today (Sidney K. Bennett)
1940: Never believe anything you think at the end of a hard day’s work (Diana)
1949: Don’t believe everything you think (Clayton Rawson)
1953: Don’t believe everything you think you know (Mary Margaret McBride)
1974: Don’t believe everything you think (Advertisement for TV Guide)
1997: Don’t believe everything you think (Bumper sticker)
Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.
Edgar Allan Poe published the short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” in November 1845. The tale was set in a private hospital for the mentally ill, and an interesting precursor to the statement under examination was spoken by the nominal head of the institution:2
“You are young yet, my friend,” replied my host, “but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
Poe popularized the expression immediately above, but he was not the first to employ it. A separate QI article about this saying is available here.
In 1898 a newspaper in Whiting, Kansas printed a collection of miscellaneous statements under the title “This and That”. One statement was a variant of the expression employed by Poe. The first part of this variant was similar to the proverb under examination although it used the word “anything” instead of “everything”:3
Don’t believe anything you think and only half what you know.
The 1898 statement appeared in other periodicals. For example, in 1901 it appeared in “The Vliets Echo” of Vliets, Kansas.4
In 1925 humor columnist Tom Sims published a statement which was more general than the proverb under examination. Tom Sims’s column appeared in multiple newspapers:5
It’s a great life if you don’t believe everything you see, hear, think or know.
In 1926 the “Ryegate Weekly Reporter” of Ryegate, Montana printed an anecdote about a classroom conversation during which a student employed a variant of the target expression using the word “know” instead of “think”:6
Verlie’s face brightened and he said: — “Don’t believe everything you know.”
Harriet—Gee, Kid. I think you are just wonderful.
In 1927 a newspaper in Watonga, Oklahoma printed a slightly longer version of the 1925 expression:7
It’s a great life when you reach the point where you do not believe everything you see, hear, think or know.
In 1930 “The Arizona Daily Star” of Tucson, Arizona printed a column by George Stracke which included a more elaborate version of the target expression applied to an athletic event:8
Don’t believe everything you think and see when watching a football game. And if you are inclined to believe your eyes, for heaven’s sake don’t express your ideas about the officials.
In 1934 an exact match for the target statement appeared within an astrology column created by Sidney K. Bennett as mentioned previously:9
Don’t believe everything you think, especially today, particularly in money matters and relations with those in money professions, such as bankers, brokers, cashiers, et al.
In 1940 columnist Diana writing in “The Chicago Defender” of Illinois provided the following advice:10
Never believe anything you think at the end of a hard day’s work. Chances are you’re running a slight temperature—and temperatures, no matter how slight, may be accompanied by delusions.
In 1949 a locked-door mystery by Clayton Rawson appeared in the “Evening Standard” of London. A character mentioned two closely related proverbs:11
“Don’t believe everything you see is excellent advice; but there’s a better rule. Don’t believe everything you think.”
In 1953 writer Mary Margaret McBride published a piece with the following title:12
Don’t Believe Everything You Think You Know
In 1974 the proverb appeared in an advertisement for “TV Guide” magazine printed in a Detroit, Michigan newspaper:13
Don’t believe everything you think. Don’t believe the thought, for instance, that adding TV Guide magazine to a television buy is the height of duplication.
In 1977 a newspaper in Caithness, Scotland published a poem by Audrey Macdonald with the following title:14
Don’t Believe Everything You Think
In 1997 a collector of expressions on bumper stickers noticed the proverb:15
He’s a serious student of that unlikely oracle of wisdom — bumper stickers — and has been collecting sayings and quips in a little book he’s calling The Zen Cowboy Book of Wisdom.
“A favorite is, ‘Don’t believe everything you think,'” he said, calling it a healthy view of religion.
In conclusion, this proverb was used by astrologer Sidney K. Bennett in 1934. However, QI believes that there was no single creator because the statement evolved over time.
Image Notes: Illustration of impossible cubes from OpenClipart Vectors at Pixabay.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Jonathan Lighter whose message led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Lighter found several valuable citations, e.g., the 1930, 1934, and 1949 citations listed above.
- 1934 November 23, Harrisburg Telegraph, The Stars Say SAGITTARIUS THE ARCHER By Wynn, Quote Page 7, Column 3, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1845 November, Graham’s Magazine (Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art), Volume 28, Number 5, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether by Edgar Allan Poe, Start Page 193, Quote Page 194, Column 2, George R. Graham & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (HathiTrust Full View) link ↩︎
- 1898 July 7, Whiting Journal, This and That, Quote Page 1, Column 5, Whiting, Kansas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1901 October 25, The Vliets Echo, Local News, Quote Page 1, Column 1, Vliets, Kansas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1925 November 14, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Tom Sims Says, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1926 December 9, Ryegate Weekly Reporter, Freshman Notes, Quote Page 4, Column 3, Ryegate, Montana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1927 September 1, Watonga Republican, Thoughtograms by C.E.S., Quote Page 6, Column 2, Watonga, Oklahoma. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1930 October 19, The Arizona Daily Star, Don’t Believe Your Eyes in Grid Game by George Stracke, Quote Page 10, Column 7, Tucson, Arizona. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1934 November 23, Harrisburg Telegraph, The Stars Say SAGITTARIUS THE ARCHER By Wynn, Quote Page 7, Column 3, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1940 March 2, The Chicago Defender, In Passing by Diana, Quote Page 14, Column 7, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest)1940 March 2, The Chicago Defender, In Passing by Diana, Quote Page 14, Column 7, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1949 December 13, Evening Standard, Off the Face of the Earth by Clayton Rawson, Quote Page 8, Column 4, London, England. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1953 December 17, Portland Evening Express, Don’t Believe Everything You Think You Know by Mary Margaret McBride, Quote Page 26, Column 1, Portland, Maine. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1974 April 8, The Detroit News, We’d Make Some Big TV Advertiser a Good Magazine, Quote Page 20A, Column 1, Detroit, Michigan. (GenealogyBank) ↩︎
- 1977 November 30, Caithness Courier, Poets Corner: Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Audrey Macdonald of Wick, Quote Page 10, Column 5, Caithness, Scotland. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
- 1997 February 21, The Tennessean, Singer slides God-talk in among his songs (Continuation title: Colorado crooner wears Zen-gallon hat) by Ray Waddle (Religion Editor), Quote Page 5B, Column 2, Nashville, Tennessee. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎