[Ads-l] Nothing succeeds like success

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The related QI article about the quip attributed to Dorothy Parker is
now available:

Nothing Succeeds Like Undress
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/09/05/dress/

Thanks for your comments, LH.
While researching I did find a different English translation for the
French phrase. But the rendering seemed to be less accurate.

“Le Corricolo” (1843) by Alexandre Dumas contains the following passage:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ADA6AAAAcAAJ&q=++%22le+succ%C3%A8s%22#v=snippet&
[Begin excerpt]
Rien ne réussit comme le succès. Le succès est l’aimant moral qui
attire tout à lui.
[End excerpt]

The English translation of  “Le Corricolo” was titled “Sketches of
Naples” (1845). The matching passage was the following:
https://books.google.com/books?id=jzn7-fuWuaoC&q=%22as+success%22#v=snippet&
[Begin excerpt]
Nothing is so popular as success. It is the moral load-stone which
attracts every one.
[End excerpt]

The November 25, 1847 translation that I included in the QI article
appeared in “The Commercial” newspaper of Wilmington, North Carolina:
[Begin excerpt]
Nothing succeeds like success. Success is the moral loadstone that
draws everything.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sun, Sep 4, 2022 at 9:52 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Weird. It almost seems like an entirely different proverb in French, less
> of a jeu de mots, given the distinct form of the verb (réussir) and noun
> (succès).  While French does have a verb "succéder", it's a semi-false
> friend of "succeed" since it only has the sense of "follow" (as in 4
> following 3) and not that of "prevail" or "win" and so corresponds to
> "successor" rather than to "success".
>
> LH
>
> On Sun, Sep 4, 2022 at 9:35 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > The Quote Investigator website now has an entry about the adage in the
> > subject line.
> > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/09/04/like-success/
> >
> > This adage evolved over time, and the earliest instances occurred in
> > French. The saying moved from French to English by 1847.
> >
> > [Begin overview from QI article]
> > 1826: Rien ne réussit en France comme le succès. (Nothing succeeds in
> > France like success.) Written by M.R.
> >
> > 1827: Rien ne réussit comme un succès. (Nothing succeeds like a
> > success.) Written by Jacques-François Ancelot
> >
> > 1837: Rien ne réussit comme le succès. (Nothing succeeds like
> > success.) Attributed to Jules Janin
> >
> > 1847: Nothing succeeds like success. Written by William J. Snelling
> > who was translating a story by Alexandre Dumas into English
> > [End overview from QI article]
> >
> > [Begin excerpt from acknowledgement]
> > Thanks to researcher Barry Popik who listed the 1837 French citation
> > on his website. Also, thanks to researcher Fred R. Shapiro who listed
> > the 1849 English citation in “The New Yale Book of Quotations”.
> > [End excerpt from acknowledgement]
> >
> > I investigated this saying because I had received a request to look
> > into a quip which is usually credited to Dorothy Parker: “Nothing
> > succeeds like undress”. Soon I will create an article about this quip.
> >
> > Feedback welcome
> > Garson O’Toole
> > QuoteInvestigator.com
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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