Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 1 Sep 2003, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:

> So you plan to let the rest of us know what it is? Now that the
> archive is more stable, it would be nice to have it there.

I found a hard copy rather than an electronic copy, so I'll have to
retype it.  Also please note that my printout apparently is just a portion
of the posting that I found relevant to my own needs, not the entire
posting:

<beginning of Popik posting excerpt>

  Richard Carlson has reaped thousands of dollars (if not millions) based
on this one phrase.  It's a small detail, but the phrase is not even his!
  In 1988, Mark Mantell (not to be confused with our Dragonsystems guy)
published DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF: P.S. IT'S ALL SMALL STUFF.  This
was made into an audio book in 1996 -- a year before Carlson's book came
out.
  Even the joke "Don't sweat the petty things...and don't pet the sweaty
things" dates two years before Carlson's book.
  A ProQuest check (ProQuest 2.1 will come out in a day) shows the quote
used in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, 10 July 1988, and in FAMILY CIRCLE, 14
March 1989--a great many years before Carlson's book.
  A DejaNews check showed this posting before 4-22-95:

Two-step plan for handling stress:
Step 1:  Don't sweat the small stuff.
Step 2:  Remember that it's all small stuff.
--Anthony Robbins.

  Other DejaNews resulst show this is given as "Rule 1" and "Rule 2."
Anthony Robbins may have said it, but it predates Robbins.
  A WorldCat check shows the phrase goes back quite a bit:

DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF: ESTABLISHING THE NEED FOR GOOD NEWS (1980) by
Marvin Phillips, a cassette tape by the Garnett Church of Christ.
DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF (1973) by Marie Frost, illutrations by Joyce
Thimsen, from Key Publishers (Christian life).

  I remember it as "don't sweat the details."  That meant "don't let
something small trip up something large."  It was not followed with "it's
all small stuff."
  A song called "Don't sweat the techniaue" was recorded in 1992 by Eric
B. and Rakim.  "Don't sweat the details" might be a little harder to find,
unfortunately.
  Perhaps a better, more realistic quote is:

"No sweat, no sweet."
--Samuel Smiles, SELF HELP, pg. 305 (1859).

<end of Popik posting excerpt>


Fred Shapiro


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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
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