"Too Rich or Too Thin"

[Fred Shapiro]

I am trying to trace back the expression "You can't be too rich or too thin,"
usually attributed to the Dutchess of Windsor or Babe Paley.  The earliest
evidence I have found is the following:

"A woman can never be too rich or too thin," said one of the Beautiful People
as reported by Suzy Knickerbocker last spring.
        Chicago Tribune, Oct. 15, 1967

Can anyone supply any further insights into the quotation's provenance, from
Suzy Knickerbocker columns (she wrote for the Hearst newspapers and the New
York Daily News) or biographies of the Duchess of Windsor or Babe Paley or
other sources?

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org