Don't Worry, Be Happy (Meher Baba)

[Stephen Goranson]

Yale Book of Quotations gives this as quoted in Whole Grains (1973), which I
don't have. Since I think I saw Meher Baba's photo with this caption before
1973, and since he died or "dropped the body," as they say, in 1969, I
looked a
little. Via google a Meher Baba Glossary says he said this since the
1930s, but
cites only a late book from Australia. Reportedly this was painted on a San
Francisco bridge. Longer versions include: "Do your best. Then don't worry. Be
Happy. I will help you." Anyway, here's an earlier citation (via Google
Scholar
in an article on drug addiction treatment; he recommended against
drugs) from a
book temporarily missing locally: J.A.C. Dunn "Don't worry, be happy--I will
help you," in Red Clay Reader  (number 6?) (Charlotte NC: Southern Review,
1968). I'll happily see someone else antedate that.

Stephen Goranson

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