"Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease"

[Fred Shapiro]

The expression "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" is often said to derive
from a supposed poem by humorist Josh Billings, ca. 1870.  Bartlett's
Familiar Quotations gives the quotation as follows:

The wheel that squeaks the loudest
Is the one that gets the grease.

Bartlett's titles the poem "The Kicker" but gives no dating.  I have been
unable to find any such poem.  Can Barry or Sam or anyone else shed any
light on the origins or earliest findable usage of this expression?

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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