The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but that is the way to bet (antedating attrib Hugh Keough 1919 February 8)

[Garson O'Toole]

I apologize for not checking Barry Popik's website before posting.
Barry traces the expression further back.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/the_race_is_not_always_to_the_swift_no_the_battle_to_the_strong_but_thats_t/

Short link:
http://goo.gl/YYPy5

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the
>              strong; but that is the way to bet (antedating attrib Hugh Keough
>              1919 February 8)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> "The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that
>> is the way to bet." --Hugh Keough
>
> For this saying the Yale Book of Quotations cites the 1937 collection
> "More Than Somewhat" by Damon Runyon, but also notes an earlier
> attribution in 1936 to Hugh Keough.
>
> Here is a 1919 instance in which famed wit Franklin P. Adams
> attributes the saying to Hugh Keough.
>
> Cite: 1919 February 8, Collier's: The National Weekly, Demobilizing
> Washington by Franklin P. Adams, Page 9, Column 3, P. F. Collier &
> Son, Inc., New York. (Google Books full view)
>
> As to injustice in the Army, as to putting a man on a job he is
> unfitted for, as to failure to recognize merit - my observation has
> been that there is more injustice, misfitting, and unfairness of
> promotion and retardment in civil life than there is in the Army. As
> Hugh Keough used to say: "The race is not always to the swift, nor the
> battle to the strong; but that is the way to bet."
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org