Quote Investigator®

David Lynch? Margaret Atwood? Jacob Riis? Grant E. Hamilton? Wendy Wasserstein? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The following saying encourages an optimistic focus on what matters in life:

Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole.

The influential U.S. movie director David Lynch and the prominent Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood have both employed this expression, but I think it predates them. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1999 “The Toronto Star” published an interview with David Lynch during which he spoke a version of the saying. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:¹

“You have to fall in love and do what you love and then take what comes after that, which you can’t control anyway.

“That way, if things don’t work out after, you at least feel you’ve been true to yourself. Keep your eye on the doughnut, rather than the hole.”

The saying has a long history, and the phrasing has evolved over time. The seed of the expression appeared as a four-line verse titled “Their Points of View” published in “The Sun” newspaper of New York in April 1904:²

’Twixt optimist and pessimist
The difference is droll;
The optimist the doughnut sees—
The pessimist the hole.

In July 1907, journalist and activist Jacob Riis delivered an address before the National Education Association, and he repeated the four-line verse. His commentary included a partial match for the quotation. He used the word “keep”:³

“Keep your eye on the doughnut, and let there be no pessimist in an editorial chair. If I ever find one I shall recommend Roosevelt’s prescription for the useless student: ‘The man ought to have his head knocked off.’

In November 1907, Jacob Riis addressed the students at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He spoke again about doughnuts and holes:⁴

The speaker averred that he was considerable of an optimist. The pessimist sees only the hole in the center of the doughnut, but the optimist sees the doughnut itself. Keep your eyes on the doughnuts. Keep your eyes on the tangible and there will be plenty of encouragement to go ahead.

In February 1908, the first strong match located by QI appeared in the caption of a one-panel cartoon by Grant E. Hamilton published in “Judge” magazine. The cartoon depicted three human figures and a doughnut. The figures represented Uncle Sam, Capital, and Labor. The caption presented the remark delivered by Uncle Sam to the other two figures:⁵

DON’T LOOK AT THE HOLE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE DOUGHNUT.

The doughnut represented prosperity with the emblazoned phrases “Big Crops” and “Natural Resources”. However, the hole represented gloom with the phrase “Business Depression”.

In March 1908, the cartoon was mentioned in newspapers such as the “Boston Evening Transcript” of Massachusetts:⁶

Some of the speakers found their text in the cartoon, reproduced from Judge, showing a huge doughnut, with the words: “Don’t look at the hole; keep your eyes on the doughnut.” This cartoon, in colored print, accompanied the bills of fare.

Also in March 1908, the cartoon was reprinted in other journals such as the “The Literary Digest”⁷ and “Leslie’s Weekly” of New York.⁸

In June 1908, a close match to the modern saying appeared in an item published in “The Home Missionary” of New York”. The attribution was anonymous:⁹

A prosperity association is touring the country in the interests of hopefulness in business matters. Their emblem is that most toothsome of New England products, the doughnut, and under the picture is the motto, “Keep your eye on the doughnut, and not on the hole.” — Dr. Richards.

Also in June 1908, “The Daily Missoulian” of Montana printed the following as a filler item:¹⁰

Keep your eye on the doughnut;
don’t worry about the hole.

In December, the “Daily Kennebec Journal” of Augusta, Maine published an article containing the following version of the saying:¹¹

Keep your eye on the doughnut, never mind the hole.

In May 1924, “The Pearl City News” of Illinois printed the following verse:¹²

As you ramble on thru life, Brother.
Whatever be your goal.
Keep your eye upon the doughnut.
And not upon the hole.

In 1959, the “Wheeling Herald” of Illinois printed the following close match using “one’s” instead of “your”:¹³

The trite comment about it being a wise goal to keep one’s eye on the donut and not on the hole is proving especially true …

In 1974, the “Encyclopedia of Graffiti” contained the following item:¹⁴

OPTIMISM

As you ramble on through life, brother
Whatever be your goal
Keep your eye on the doughnut
Not upon the hole.

(Men’s room, Market Diner, New York City—a traditional wall inscription)

In 1996, an entry in “The International Thesaurus of Quotations” credited a U.S. playwright with a variant:¹⁵

As I ramble through life, whatever be my goal, I will unfortunately always keep my eye upon the doughnut and not upon the whole.
WENDY WASSERSTEIN, “To Live and Diet,” Bachelor Girls (1990)

In November 1999, “The Toronto Star” of Canada printed an interview with David Lynch during which he used the expression as mentioned at the beginning of this article:¹⁶

“That way, if things don’t work out after, you at least feel you’ve been true to yourself. Keep your eye on the doughnut, rather than the hole.”

In December 1999, a journalist with the “Evening Standard” of London, England spoke to David Lynch and reported the following comment from the auteur:¹⁷

 “There’s the doughnut and there is the hole and you have got to keep your eye on the doughnut and not the hole. There are so many things that happen outside the film-making process that are not under your control. And they do funny things to you and can interrupt the mechanism”.

In 2000 Margaret Atwood published the novel “The Blind Assassin”, and she included an instance of the 1924 four-line verse:¹⁸

What came back to me then was the sign that used to be in the window of the Downyflake Doughnut stand, at the Sunnyside Amusement Park, in — what was it? – the summer of 1935:

As you ramble on through life. Brother,
Whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the doughnut.
And not upon the hole.

A paradox, the doughnut hole. Empty space, once, but now they’ve learned to market even that.

In 2001, the “Daily News” attributed the saying to Lynch:¹⁹

David Lynch has a favorite expression — words to live by, if you will — that he delivers with complete sincerity: “Keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole.” The hole is all the distractions that come from being David Lynch, the director …

In conclusion, this saying evolved over time. In April 1904, the seed of the expression appeared in a four-line verse published in “The Sun” newspaper. In February 1908, a match appeared in the caption of a cartoon by Grant E. Hamilton published in “Judge” magazine. In June 1908, a close match to the modern saying appeared in “The Home Missionary”.

Image Notes: Reprint of the doughnut cartoon by Grant E. Hamilton from “The Literary Digest” on March 7, 1908. The original cartoon appeared in “Judge” magazine on February 22, 1908. The available scan from “The Literary Digest” was more legible than the scan from “Judge”.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Edward Banatt whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro which contains an entry for this saying. The first citation was the June 1908 issue of “The Home Missionary”. In addition, thanks to researcher Barry Popik who has a webpage about “‘Keep Your Eye Upon the Donut’  (Optimist’s Creed)” which lists the 1904 citation in “The Sun” together with an August 14, 1924 citation for the four-line verse and other helpful citations.

1. 1999 November 27, The Saturday Star (The Toronto Star), Director’s really mild at heart by Peter Howell (Movie Critic), Quote Page J3, Column 1, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
2. 1904 April 15, The Sun, Their Points of View, Quote Page 6, Column 5, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
3. 1907 July 24, The Redwood Gazette, Jacob Riis, Optimist, Quote Page 2, Column 3, Redwood Falls, Minnesota. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
4. 1907 November 7, The Grand Forks Daily Herald, Jacob Riis At The University, Quote Page 6, Column 3, Grand Forks, North Dakota. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
5. 1908 February 22, Judge, Volume 54, Number 1375, Cartoon by Grant E. Hamilton, Caption: Don’t Look At the Hole, Keep Your Eye On the Doughnut, Quote Page 7 and 8, Judge Company, New York. (Internet Archive Full View) link ↩︎
6. 1908 March 4, Boston Evening Transcript, Dinner Was Well Planned, Quote Page 5, Column 6, Boston, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
7. 1908 March 7, The Literary Digest, Topics In Brief, Cartoon by Grant E. Hamilton, Caption: Don’t Look At the Hole, Keep Your Eye On the Doughnut, Cartoon reprinted from Judge magazine, Quote Page 326, Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York. (Google Books Gull View) link ↩︎
8. 1908 March 19, Leslie’s Weekly, Speakers and a Cartoon That Stirred Boston Banqueters, Quote Page 272, Published by The Judge Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
9. 1908 June, The Home Missionary, Volume 82, Number 3, Splinters from Speeches, Quote Page 472, Column 1, Congregational Home Missionary Society, New York. (Internet Archive Full View) link ↩︎
10. 1908 June 7, The Daily Missoulian, (Filler item), Quote Page 6, Column 3, Missoula, Montana. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
11. 1921 December 22, Daily Kennebec Journal, The Hole Or the Doughnut?, Quote Page 6, Column 2, Augusta, Maine. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
12. 1924 May 8,  The Pearl City News, General News, Quote Page 1, Column 4, Pearl City, Illinois. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
13. 1959 December 24, Wheeling Herald, Long Grove Residents Plan Candlelight Carol Service by Emma Keiler, Quote Page 6, Column 4 and 5, Wheeling, Illinois. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
14. 1980 (Copyright 1974), Encyclopedia of Graffiti, Collected by Robert Reisner and Lorraine Wechsler, Section: Optimism, Quote Page 258, (Reprint of 1974 edition from Macmillan, New York), Galahad Books, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
15. 1996, The International Thesaurus of Quotations, Compiled by Eugene Ehrlich and Marshall DeBruhl, (Revised and Updated), Topic: Eating, Quote Page 180, Column 2, HarperResource: HarperCollins, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
16. 1999 November 27, The Saturday Star (The Toronto Star), Director’s really mild at heart by Peter Howell (Movie Critic), Quote Page J3, Column 1, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
17. 1999 December 1, Evening Standard, Wizard of Weird: Interview of David Lynch by Andrew Billen, (Continuation title: ‘You’ve got to keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole’), Start Page 29, Quote Page 30, Column 4, London, England. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
18. 2000, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, Chapter: The eggshell hat, Quote Page 310, Nan A. Talese: An Imprint of Doubleday: A Division of Random House, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
19. 2001 October 7, Daily News, The view from ‘Mulholland Drive’, Section: Showtime, Quote Page 4, Column 1, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎