John Wayne? Peter McWilliams? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: The famous actor John Wayne apparently spoke about the sense of renewal we experience with each new day. Metaphorically, tomorrow arrives clean and perfect. It puts itself into our hands, and hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday. Would you please help me to find a citation and the precise phrasing of this remark?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1971 an interview with John Wayne appeared in “Playboy” magazine, and the actor discussed the importance of learning from the past. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
There’s a lot of things great about life. But I think tomorrow is the most important thing. Comes in to us at midnight very clean, ya know. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.
The “Playboy” article printed the quotation twice. A streamlined version without the phrase “ya know” appeared in the caption of a photo:2
“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes in to us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.”
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
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