Quote Investigator® – Page 150

Quote Origin: Clear Your Mind of Cant / Clear Your Mind of Can’t

Samuel Johnson? James Boswell? Thomas Carlyle? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Two statements that sound the same but have very different meanings have been attributed to the esteemed dictionary maker and man of letters Samuel Johnson:

1) Clear your mind of cant.
2) Clear your mind of can’t.

In the first statement the noun “cant” referred to insincere, trite, or sanctimonious speech. Johnson was telling a friend not to dwell on this form of verbal nonsense.

In the second statement the term “can’t” referred to negative thoughts that undermine one’s self-confidence. But I think that this phrasing was too modern for Johnson who died in 1784. It sounds like a maxim from a current motivational book or poster. Would you please examine this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The first expression was spoken to James Boswell by Samuel Johnson on May 15, 1783 as recorded in the famous biographical work “Boswell’s Life of Johnson”. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

JOHNSON. “My dear friend, clear your mind of cant. You may talk as other people do. You may say to a man, ‘Sir, I am your most humble servant.’ You are not his most humble servant. You may say, ‘These are sad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times.’ You don’t mind the times. You tell a man, ‘I am sorry you had such bad weather the last day of your journey, and were so much wet.’ You don’t care six-pence whether he was wet or dry. You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society: but don’t think foolishly.”

The second phrase was attributed to Johnson by 1929, but that was a very late date; clearly, the attribution was a mistake caused by confusion of the homophones: cant and can’t.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Music Itself Is Going To Become Like Running Water or Electricity

David Bowie? Alan B. Krueger? David Kusek? Gerd Leonhard? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Music streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music have grown greatly in popularity and power in recent times. Some pundits assert that music in the future will be viewed as a utility like water, gas, or electricity. But this insight was not novel; I recall that David Bowie made a comparable point back in the early 2000s. Correct?

Reply from Quote Investigator: An article titled “David Bowie, 21st-Century Entrepreneur” by Jon Pareles was published in “The New York Times” on June 9, 2002. Bowie made several striking comments about the future of the music industry including the following:¹

Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity.

The upheavals in the music domain have been extraordinary, but some of the changes Bowie envisioned have not yet occurred, e.g., the end of copyright:

The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it’s not going to happen. I’m fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing.

Piracy of music is commonplace, but the music labels and artists continue to collect billions for the sale of digital music, CDs, and vinyl supported by copyright.

Bowie was very shrewd about the future shift in revenue for artists because he understood the primacy and unreproducibility of direct experience:

You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Either Write Things Worth Reading or Do Things Worth the Writing

Benjamin Franklin? Thomas Fuller? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: If you wish to be remembered by posterity in a literate culture you have two options:

1) Write something that people wish to read.
2) Do something grand that inspires people to write.

The famous statesman Benjamin Franklin has a secure place in history for both of these reasons. Apparently, he crafted a remark that was similar to the one above although he was more eloquent. Would you please locate this adage?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Franklin published a series of almanacs in the 1700s that were very popular, and many of the statements that are credited to him today were printed in these almanacs. The pertinent adage appeared in the 1738 edition of “Poor Richard’s Almanac” whose more complete title was “Poor Richard, An Almanack For the Year of Christ 1738, Being the Second after LEAP YEAR.”

The phrases of the expression were interleaved with astronomical facts concerning the month of May 1738. QI has underlined the adage in red in the image below which shows part of Franklin’s book:¹

If you wou’d not be forgotten
As soon as you are dead and rotten,
Either write things worth reading,
or do things worth the writing.

Many of the sayings in the almanacs were not coined by Franklin. He read several contemporary compilations and sometimes selected statements he found interesting. He also rewrote existing adages and even combined sayings.

The core of the adage under investigation appeared earlier in a collection titled “Introductio ad Prudentiam: Or, Directions, Counsels, and Cautions, Tending to Prudent Management of Affairs in Common Life” by Thomas Fuller which was published in 1727. Adage number 686 was the following:²

If thou wouldest win Immortality of Name, either do things worth the writing, or write things worth the reading.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done, You Always Get What You’ve Always Gotten

Henry Ford? Jessie Potter? Dayle K. Maloney? Cathy Bolger? Susan Jeffers? Jackie “Moms” Mabley? Tony Robbins? Anonymous?

Question for Quote Investigator: Why do people repeat foolish, ineffective, or self-destructive behaviors? Self-help books contain an adage about the consequences of thoughtless repetition. Here are three versions:

1) If you do what you’ve always done you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

2) If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.

3) If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

This saying has been credited to the automotive tycoon Henry Ford and the motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Would you please explore its provenance?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The important reference work “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” from Yale University Press has an entry for this expression. Interestingly, researchers have only been able to trace it back to the 1980s.¹

The earliest instance located by QI appeared in “The Milwaukee Sentinel” of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1981. The speaker was an educator and counselor on family relationships and human sexuality named Jessie Potter who worked for a non-profit organization she founded. Boldface has been added to excerpts:²

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” That was the advice of Jessie Potter, the featured speaker at Friday’s opening of the seventh annual Woman to Woman conference.

The director of the National Institute for Human Relationships in Oak Lawn, Ill., Ms. Potter drew on anecdotes and frank comments about sex and love in asserting that change is needed in the American way of growing up, falling in love, raising a family and growing old.

The phrasing of the adage is highly variable; hence, it has been difficult to trace. The linkage to Henry Ford who died in 1947 appears to be spurious. Jessie Potter helped to popularize the saying, and she may have coined it, but uncertainty remains.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Google Can Bring You Back 100,000 Answers. A Librarian Can Bring You Back the Right One

Neil Gaiman? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: In today’s world of search engines and myriad webpages some have questioned the future of libraries and librarians. The award-winning fantasy author Neil Gaiman coined an insightful saying on this topic. In essence, a librarian can help guide you to find the right answer from the hundreds of thousands proffered by search engines. Are you familiar with this quotation?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In 2010 Neil Gaiman was appointed Honorary Chair of National Library Week in the U.S. On April 16 of that year Gaiman spoke about the changing role of the library in the 21st century during an interview conducted in Indianapolis, Indiana, and a segment of his commentary was uploaded to YouTube. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

We used to live in a world in which there wasn’t enough information. Information was currency. Now we’re in a world in which there’s too much information. There’s information absolutely everywhere. So instead of sending a librarian out into the desert to come back with the one rock that you need from the desert, it’s now a matter of sending a librarian into a jungle to come back with the one tree, the one leaf, in the jungle that you probably wouldn’t be able to get.

Google can bring you back, you know, a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Using Money You Haven’t Earned To Buy Things You Don’t Need To Impress People You Don’t Like

Will Smith? Walter Winchell? Robert Quillen? Edgar Allan Moss? Tony Wons? Ken Murray? Emile Gauvreau? Walter Slezak? Will Rogers? Chuck Palahniuk? Tyler Durden?

Question for Quote Investigator: Have you ever purchased an item and wondered the next day what motivated your inexplicable action? Here are two versions of an entertaining saying about consumerism:

1) Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.

2) We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.

Statements like this have been credited to the famous comedian Will Rogers, the powerful columnist Walter Winchell, the Hollywood star Will Smith, and the movie “Fight Club”. What do you think?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest strong match located by QI appeared in a June 1928 column by the syndicated humorist Robert Quillen in which he labelled the expression “Americanism”:¹

Americanism: Using money you haven’t earned to buy things you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Sorry — If I Had Any Advice To Give I’d Take It Myself

John Steinbeck? Harper Lee? Rod Serling? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: Literary folklore asserts that John Steinbeck, the Nobel prize-winning author, was once asked to share a nugget of wisdom for aspiring authors, and he replied humorously and candidly that he did not really have any advice. In fact, if he had some good advice he would use it himself. True or untrue?

Reply from Quote Investigator: The magazine “Writer’s Digest” posed the following question to several high-profile authors and editors. The desired response was supposed to be restricted to one-sentence:

What advice would you offer a person who aspires to a writing career?

The replies were published in a cover story dated September 1961. The following three items appeared in the issue. Steinbeck’s remark was frank, but not particularly useful. Boldface added:¹

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career, that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.
Harper Lee

Sorry — If I had any advice to give I’d take it myself.
John Steinbeck

The new writer should observe, listen, look . . . and then write. Nothing begets better writing than the simple process of writing.
Rod Serling

The magazine committed a gaffe in its description of Harper Lee when it credited her with writing “To Kill a Hummingbird” instead of “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

In 2012 the website of “Writer’s Digest” published a series of articles that explored the archives of the long-lived periodical. The advice from Steinbeck was reprinted when most of the 1961 article was placed on the website.²

In conclusion, in 1961 Steinbeck did state that he was unable to provide enlightening guidance to new writers.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Onorio Catenacci whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.

Update History: On April 23, 2025 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated.

1961 September, Writer’s Digest, If You Want to Be a Writer, (Advice from Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, and Rod Serling), Start Page 22, Quote Page 24, F & W Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Verified on microfilm) ↩︎
Website: Writer’s Digest, Article title: What’s the single best piece of writing advice? Harper Lee, John Steinbeck and Carl Sandburg weigh in, Article author: Zachary Petit, Date on website: April 27, 2012, Website description: Resource for beginning and established writers. (Accessed writersdigest.com on April 19, 2016) link ↩︎

Quote Origin: An Appeaser Is One Who Feeds a Crocodile, Hoping It Will Eat Him Last

Winston Churchill? Walter Winchell? Reader’s Digest? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: British leader Winston Churchill has been credited with a crafting a vivid definition for “appeaser” that cleverly employed figurative language:

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile — hoping it will eat him last.

It supposedly was spoken during World War II, but I have not been able to find a contemporaneous citation. Would you please explore the provenance of this expression?

Reply from Quote Investigator: Winston Churchill did use the crocodile metaphor during a speech delivered on January 20, 1940, but the phrasing was different. At the time, Churchill was the First Lord of the British Admiralty, and his address was broadcast on BBC radio from London; “The New York Times” printed the speech the next day. In the following passage Churchill was discussing countries which had remained neutral during the ongoing war. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear greatly that the storm will not pass. It will rage and it will roar ever more loudly, ever more widely.

The passage did not use the word “appeaser”. Also, it was somewhat clumsy because it employed two figurative frameworks: one based on a ravenous crocodile and another based on a powerful storm. The popular modern version mentioned by the questioner was circulating by 1954. This version simplified the text by adding the word “appeaser” and using only one metaphor.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: There’s Absolutely No Reason for Being Rushed Along with the Rush

Robert Frost? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: The prominent poet Robert Frost thought that pursuing activities with an unremitting frenetic pace was unwise; periods of relaxation and leisure were indispensable. He has been credited with a passage that begins:

There’s absolutely no reason for being rushed along with the rush. Everybody should be free to go very slow.

I have been unable to locate a solid citation. Would you please help?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In January 1954 “The Atlanta Constitution” of Atlanta, Georgia published an interview with Robert Frost who was in the local area because he was planning to give a talk at Agnes Scott College of Decatur, Georgia. Boldface has been added to excerpts:¹

“There’s absolutely no reason for being rushed along with the rush,” the venerable poet said yesterday, lounging easily in the Agnes Scott library between speaking engagements. “Everybody should be free to be very slow. I never know when I’m wasting time.”

The quotation above differed slightly from the common modern rendition because it contained “free to be very slow” instead of “free to go very slow”. Frost continued by presenting some thoughts about his writing process:

“You see I don’t know when I’m thinking. It may be when I’m just sitting around and it may be when I’m working. But what difference does it make? What you want, what you’re hanging around in the world waiting for is for something to occur to you.”

Frost further stated that he composed his poetry in his head while walking and wrote it down at night while sitting in an easy chair.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Quote Origin: Nearly All Men Can Stand Adversity, But If You Want To Test a Man’s Character, Give Him Power

Abraham Lincoln? Thomas Carlyle? Robert G. Ingersoll? Horatio Alger Jr.? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: I saw the following quotation on the website of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum:

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Lincoln was credited, but I have seen skepticism expressed on other websites. What do you think?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that this statement was spoken or written by Abraham Lincoln. The famous orator and free thinker Robert G. Ingersoll employed similar phrases when he was describing Lincoln. QI conjectures that this was the primary nexus of confusion: something that was said about Lincoln was transformed into something that was said by Lincoln.

The overall history and evolution of the saying is long and complex. Part of the semantics can be traced back to a remark by Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle in 1841. An exact match for the modern instance with an ascription to Lincoln appeared by 1931.

Here are selected citations in chronological order.