[Ads-l] Request verification of quotation in 1919 magazine issue: Time is what keeps everything from happening at once

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> The version I heard, perhaps around 1980, was:
> "Time is God's way of making sure everything doesn't happen at once."

Thanks for your response, JL.
During my research I found a snippet match using the phrase "Time is
God's way" that probably was printed circa 1976. But it was too much
of a hassle to try to verify it. So I omitted it from the QI article.

Year: 1976
Periodical: The Wharton Magazine
Volumes 1-2
Quote Page 12
(Snippet match; data many be inaccurate; probe for 1976 produces
snippets indicating the presence of a 1976 newsletter; 1977 seems to
be in the future (for at least some issues))
https://books.google.com/books?id=rryfAAAAIAAJ

[Begin excerpt]
"Time is God's way of making sure everything doesn't happen at once."
[End excerpt]

Your comment led me to add a 1984 citation from the newspapers.com
database. It's probably not the earliest instance of "Time is God's
way", but it is verified.

[Begin excerpt from updated QI article]
In 1984 a theological purpose was suggested by an instance printed by
a columnist in a Waterloo, Iowa newspaper:

[ref] 1984 December 27, The Courier, On the Outside: Seasons have
their flaws by Scott Cawelti, Quote Page 4A, Column 2, Waterloo, Iowa.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

“Time is God’s way of not letting everything happen all at once.”
[End excerpt form updated QI article]

[Begin acknowledgement]
Thanks to discussant Jonathan Lighter who mentioned that he heard a
theological instance circa 1980.
[End acknowledgement]

Garson



> On Sat, Jul 6, 2019 at 11:28 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > The Quote Investigator website now has an entry about the quotation in
> > the subject line.
> >
> > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/07/06/time/
> >
> > The first appearance apparently occurred in a short story titled "The
> > Girl in the Golden Atom" by Ray Cummings published in an issue of
> > "All-Story Weekly" dated March 15, 1919; however, the evidence I've
> > gathered is indirect. I found the story reprinted in the following
> > 1970 collection.
> >
> > [ref] 1970, Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of "The
> > Scientific Romance" in the Munsey Magazines: 1912-1920, Edited by Sam
> > Moskowitz, The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings (All-Story
> > Weekly, March 15, 1919), Start Page 175, Quote Page 205, Holt,
> > Rinehart and Winston, New York. (Verified with scans) [/ref]
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > "How would you describe time?"
> > The Big Business Man smiled. "Time," he said, "is what keeps
> > everything from happening at once."
> > "Very clever," said the Chemist, laughing.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > The goal of this request is to obtain direct verification of the
> > quotation in the 1919 magazine issue using hardcopy or scans.
> >
> > This request is not new. Fred Shapiro sent a message to the American
> > Dialect Society mailing list way back in 2006 asking about the same
> > quotation, but no public respondent was able to verify the quotation.
> > "The Yale Book of Quotations" has a 1921 citation which probably can
> > be improved. Maybe the forthcoming second edition has the earlier
> > citation?
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2006-November/064674.html
> >
> > Wikiquote has the 1921 citation, but suggests that an earlier citation
> > might be possible. The Wikiquote discussion is in the "Misattributed"
> > section of the Albert Einstein webpage.
> >
> > A bookseller on ABEbooks is selling pages from the 1919 issue of
> > "All-Story Weekly" containing "The Girl In The Golden Atom" for $55.
> > Perhaps I should ask the bookseller to attempt to verify the
> > quotation. The verified presence of the quotation might enhance the
> > value of the pages.
> >
> >
> > https://www.abebooks.com/magazines-periodicals/All-Story-Weekly-Cover-Pages-Girl-Golden/12554344342/bd
> >
> > Garson O'Toole
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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