"success in life .. a quarter hour before my time"

[Garson O'Toole]

There is an anecdote about punctuality that features Lord Nelson in
the starring role. Here is the end of a version published in 1823.
This is from GB. I suspect an earlier match in a newspaper database
exists. Maybe when Lord Nelson was alive.

http://books.google.com/books?id=9NYEAAAAQAAJ&q=Nelson#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
PUNCTUALITY
…
When Lord Nelson was leaving London, on his last, but glorious,
expedition against the enemy …

"And you go to the inn, Mr. A., and see them off?"
"I shall, my lord; I shall be there punctually at six."
"A quarter before six, Mr. A. (returned Lord Nelson) be there a
quarter before six. To that quarter of an hour I owe every thing in
life."
[End excerpt]

The quotation Joel found may have been derived from this anecdote
which was reprinted for years.

Garson

On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 9:34 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "success in life .. a quarter hour before my time"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't know.
>
> But I have an 1836 attribution that quotes Nelson as saying "to being
> always twenty minutes before my time I owe all that I have on earth":
>
> The guide to knowledge, Volume 4 (Google eBook)
> [image: Front Cover]<http://books.google.com/books?id=ew_W1cyXHiUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0>
>  William Pinnock
> <http://books.google.com/books?id=ew_W1cyXHiUC&dq=Nelson+twenty+minutes+%22before+my+time%22&sitesec=reviews>
>  0 Reviews<http://books.google.com/books?id=ew_W1cyXHiUC&dq=Nelson+twenty+minutes+%22before+my+time%22&sitesec=reviews>
> Printed for the proprietor; and published by W. Edwards, 1836
> DanG
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 9:11 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      "success in life .. a quarter hour before my time"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The quotation "I owe my success in life to having always been a
>> quarter of an hour before my time" is attributed to "Nelson" (Admiral
>> Nelson, I presume).  See "Gas Industry", vol. 12, No. 4 (April,
>> 1912), p. 209 [Google]; and the Evening Chronicle of Sept. 18, 1918
>> [Newspaper Archive via Google].
>>
>> Is that attribution correct?
>>
>> Joel
>>
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