"When the going gets tough, …"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs compiled by Charles Clay Doyle,
Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro and the Yale Book of Quotations
have an excellent cite in May 4, 1954 (as noted by Charlie and Ben).

Here is an interesting earlier version of the motto that does not
quite conform to the antimetabole pattern.

[ref] 1951 July 26, The Courier (Brookfield Courier), (Freestanding
unattributed statement), Quote Page 8, Column 7, Brookfield, New York.
[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
When the going gets tough the tough keep going.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 11:44 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      =?windows-1252?Q?=22When_the_going_gets_tough=2C=85=22?=
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>
> "the tough get going". This proverb figures in a posting on a Zippy cartoon, here:
>   http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/body-language-and-lithuanians/
>
> in that posting, i quote Wikipedia speculations about the source.  i can't at the moment locate my copy of the Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, so i don't know if it's in there.  anyone have the skinny on the proverb?
>
> arnold
>
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