Quote Investigator® – Page 112

Quote Origin: I Shall Live Bad If I Do Not Write and I Shall Write Bad If I Do Not Live

Françoise Sagan? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The French playwright and novelist Françoise Sagan whose best known novel was “Bonjour Tristesse” led a passionate and eventful life. The following remark emphasizing the duality of a literary career has been ascribed to her:

I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live.

I have been unable to find a good citation. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: A version of this statement appeared in “The New York Times” in 1956. The poet and book reviewer Harvey Breit asked an intermediary to inquire whether Françoise Sagan would be willing to write an article for the newspaper. The potential topics included: Paris, youth, or herself. Breit employed nonstandard spelling to represent the accent and speech of Sagan’s response. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

What could I say about Parees that as not been said before? And youth? I feel forty years removed from youth. About myself? I can tell in one sentence: I shall live bad if I do not write and I shall write bad if I do not live.”

A native speaker of English would have used the word “badly” instead of “bad”, but the sentence reflects Sagan’s command of English in 1956.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: When Audiences Come To See Authors Lecture, It Is Largely in the Hope That We’ll Be Funnier To Look at Than To Read

Sinclair Lewis? Max Herzberg? Bennett Cerf? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The American writer, social activist, and noble laureate Sinclair Lewis wondered why big audiences came to hear lectures given by authors. He humorously suggested that attendees might be hoping to see funny looking authors. Is Lewis’s self-deprecating observation genuine?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1938 Sinclair Lewis wrote an essay in “Newsweek” magazine titled “That Was a Good Lecture” which discussed speeches delivered by book authors. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

I can understand why lecture addicts go to look at British explorers, Russian princesses, and Balinese dancers, because they have pretty lantern slides or tiaras or legs. But it is incomprehensible why in fairly large numbers they flock out to view a novelist or a poet. Is it because they hope he will be even funnier to look at than to read?

The joke was not presented in an easily quotable form. Lewis employed a prefatory comment followed by a rhetorical question.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: I Always Have a Quotation for Everything—It Saves Original Thinking

Creator: Dorothy L. Sayers, prominent English mystery writer, playwright, and poet

Context: Sayers published the crime novel “Have His Carcase” in 1932. The quotation was spoken by Lord Peter Wimsey while he was conversing with Harriet Vane. Emphasis added to excerpts:¹

“There’s something in that. But I’ll have to get a decent frock if there is such a thing in Wilvercombe.”

“Well, get a wine-coloured one, then. I’ve always wanted to see you in wine-colour. It suits people with honey-coloured skin. (What an ugly word ‘skin’ is.) ‘Blossoms of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured nenuphar’—I always have a quotation for everything—it saves original thinking.”

Wimsey was quoting from the poem “The Sphinx” by Oscar Wilde which included the following lines:²

Or did huge Apis from his car leap down and lay before your feet

Big blossoms of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured nenuphar?

Some editions of “Have His Carcase” employed the incorrect spelling “menuphar” instead of “nenuphar” (water-lily).

Update History: On April 10, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.

1975 (Copyright 1932), Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers, Series: A Lord Peter Wimsey Novel, Quote Page 52 and 53, Avon Books: A Division of The Hearst Corporation, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
1909 Copyright, Complete Writings of Oscar Wilde, Poems, Poem: The Sphinx (1894), Start Page 287, Quote Page 297, The Nottingham Society, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎

Quote Origin: Civilization Will Not Attain To Its Perfection, Until the Last Stone from the Last Church Falls on the Last Priest

Émile Zola? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent French novelist and journalist Émile Zola has been credited with an inflammatory anti-clerical statement. Here are three versions in English:

Civilization will thrive only when the last stone, from the last church has fallen on the last priest.
Civilization will not attain perfection, until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest.
Humanity will not fulfill its true potential until the last stone from the last church falls on the last preacher.

Would you please explore the provenance of this remark?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Émile Zola’s 1901 novel “Travail” contains a scene during which the last church collapses on top of the last abbot. Here is a rendering of the dramatic event in English. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

The roof cracked open with a sound like thunder. The steeple shook, and then fell, laying the nave open to the sky, and pulling down with it the disjointed walls. Nothing remained under the bright sun but an enormous pile of stones and débris, beneath which they never found the mangled body of Abbé Marle, who seemed to have been crushed to dust under the ruins of the altar. Nor did they ever find any fragments of the great painted and gilded wooden crucifix, which also had been ground to powder. A religion had been killed along with the last priest, celebrating his last mass in the last church.

QI has not yet found solid evidence that Zola crafted the expression under analysis. Perhaps someone who read “Travail” constructed the statement to represent the attitude depicted within the novel. Next, the words were directly reassigned to Zola. This two-step process provides an admittedly speculative explanation for the existence of the quotation.

Émile Zola died in 1902. The first strong match for the quotation located by QI occurred in the 1930 citation listed further below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: A Dollar Saved Is a Quarter Earned

Creator: John Ciardi, U.S. poet, translator, and critic

Context: For many years Ciardi was an editor and columnist at “The Saturday Review”. For the May 26, 1962 issue he composed a set of humorously altered versions of well-known adages. Here are three examples:¹

A dollar saved is a quarter earned.
A taxpayer and his money are soon parted.
Early to bed and early to rise probably indicates unskilled employment.

The original adages were:

A penny saved is a penny earned.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

The statement under examination suggests that economic inflation can reduce the value of a dollar to the equivalent of a quarter over time. This insight is particularly compelling when the inflation rate is high.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Mardy Grothe who requested a citation for this quotation.

Update History: On April 10, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.

1962 May 26, The Saturday Review, Manner of Speaking by John Ciardi, Start Page 19, Quote Page 19, Column 2, Saturday Review Inc., New York. (Unz) ↩︎

Quote Origin: Universities Are Full of Knowledge; the Freshmen Bring a Little In and the Seniors Take None Away

Abbott Lawrence Lowell? Jonathan Swift? James Pycroft? University of Michigan Students? George Edgar Vincent? Arthur MacMurray? J. Brooks Atkinson? Charles William Eliot? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: The people, laboratories, and libraries of a university embody a vast storehouse of knowledge. How did this knowledge accumulate? A humorous response to this question has often been attributed to Abbott Lawrence Lowell who was the President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. Would you please examine the history of this witticism?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Tracing this jest has been difficult because the phrasing and vocabulary has evolved over time. The earliest match located by QI appeared in 1844 within a book titled “A Course of English Reading: Adapted to Every Taste and Capacity” by Reverend James Pycroft of Trinity College, Oxford. The major literary figure Jonathan Swift received credit. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

Swift said that the reason a certain university was a learned place was, that most persons took some learning there, and few brought any away with them, so it accumulated.

This article has been partially updated and has not yet been fully updated.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: There Is Nothing Wrong With Sobriety In Moderation

Creator: John Ciardi, U.S. poet, translator, and critic

Context: For many years Ciardi was an editor and columnist at “The Saturday Review”. He crafted several adages for the piece he published on September 24, 1966. Here is a sampling with emphasis added:¹

What we need most to know about public servants is the identity of their masters.

There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.

Gentility is what is left over from rich ancestors after the money is gone.

The statement about sobriety was a comical twist on the guidance suggesting drinking in moderation.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Mardy Grothe who requested a citation for this quotation. On April 11, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.

1966 September 24, The Saturday Review, Manner of Speaking by John Ciardi, Start Page 16, Quote Page 16 and 20, Saturday Review Inc., New York. (Unz) ↩︎

Quote Origin: Master Books, But Do Not Let Them Master You. Read To Live, Not Live To Read

Creator: Edward Bulwer-Lytton, popular and prolific English writer

Context: Bulwer-Lytton wrote on this theme in 1848 within his novel “The Caxtons” which was serialized in “Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine”. A character in the story employed antimetabole cleverly when imparting guidance. Emphasis added to excerpt:¹

My father no longer sought to curb my intellectual aspirings. He had too great a reverence for scholarship not to wish me to become a scholar if possible; though he more than once said to me somewhat sadly, “Master books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read. One slave of the lamp is enough for a household; my servitude must not be a hereditary bondage.”

Quote Origin: It’s Easier To Ask Forgiveness Than To Get Permission

Grace Hopper? Cardinal Barberini? Earl of Peterborough? David Hernandez? Helen Pajama? St. Benedict? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: People who are eager to initiate a task often cite the following guidance. Here are two versions:

It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission.
It’s easier to apologize than to get permission.

This notion has been credited to Grace Murray Hopper who was a U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and pioneering computer scientist. Would you please explore this saying?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Grace Hopper did employ and help to popularize the expression by 1982, but it was already in circulation.

The earliest match located by QI appeared in 1846 within a multivolume work called “Lives of the Queens of England” by Agnes Strickland. The ninth volume discussed marriage advice offered by a powerful church official. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:¹

But, in truth, the cardinal Barberini … did frankly advise the duchess of Modena to conclude the marriage at once; it being less difficult to obtain forgiveness for it after it was done, than permission for doing it.

A footnote listed the source of the passage above as “Earl of Peterborough, in the Mordaunt Genealogies”. Strictly speaking, the statement was not presented as a proverb; instead, it was guidance tailored to one particular circumstance.

In 1894 a newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania printed a thematically related adage within a story about mischievous children:²

The boys, let me add, every one had respectable parents and who would not, for an instant, have allowed such a prank had they known of its existence; but it is easier to beg forgiveness after the deed is performed.

Another match occurred in the 1903 novel “A Professional Rider” by Mrs. Edward Kennard, but the form was not proverbial:³

Once married, it would be infinitely easier to ask her father’s forgiveness, than to beg his permission beforehand.

In 1966 “Southern Education Report” printed an instance of the proverb spoken by David Hernandez who was a project director working for the U.S. government program Head Start:⁴

Hernandez began advertising for bids on the mobile classrooms even before the money to pay for them had been approved. ‘It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission,’ he explained.

The above citation appeared in “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” from Yale University Press.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Anger Is Like Grasping a Hot Coal To Strike Another; You Are the One Who Is Burned

Gautama Buddha? Buddhaghosa? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Feelings and actions driven by anger and resentment are self-destructive. This notion can be metaphorically illustrated by a red-hot coal which one grabs with the goal of striking another person. The poorly conceived plan causes one’s hand to suffer burns and pain. This figurative framework has been attributed to the Buddha? What do you think?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification) is an important treatise of Theravada Buddhist thought written by the scholar Buddhaghoṣa during the 5th Century (approximately) in Sri Lanka. Pe Maung Tin who was a Professor of Oriental Studies at University of Rangoon created a translation into English that was published by 1931.

The second part titled “Of Concentration” included a section on “The Developing of Love”. The text argued against performing deeds inspired by anger:¹

And he should ponder thus concerning himself: “Man, what wilt thou do getting angry with another man? Will not this angry deed which is the origin of hate lead to thy harm?”

Two vivid and complementary metaphors highlighted the unintended consequences of such anger. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:

Thou who dost such deeds art like a man who seizes with both hands glowing live coals or dung in order to strike another man therewith, but who first burns and befouls himself.”

Gautama Buddha did not deliver the words above; instead, they were written many years later by Buddhaghoṣa who was presenting his interpretation of Buddhist thought.

The Quote Investigator has explored an analogous expression, and the article can be read by clicking the following statement: “Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die”.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.