[Ads-l] Quote Update: Life is something which happens while we're . . . (Mary Worth comic strip by Allen Saunders)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Music superstar John Lennon included the following lyric in a 1980 song:

[Begin excerpt]
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
[End excerpt]

However, Lennon did not originate this adage.

Important references such as "The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs", "The
Quote Verifier", and "The New Yale Book of Quotations" attribute this
saying to U.S. cartoonist Allen Saunders based on the following
January 1957 citation in  "Reader's Digest":

[Begin excerpt]
Allen Saunders: Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.
-- Publishers Syndicate
[End excerpt]

Saunders wrote multiple comic strips for Publishers Syndicate
including "Steve Roper", "Mary Worth" and "Kerry Drake". But
previously it was unknown where or when he may have written the
expression.

Recently, I received an email from researcher Frank Daniels who sent
an illuminating new citation dated September 2, 1956 within the comic
strip "Mary Worth" by Saunders. The character Guy expressed
ambivalence about a relationship, and the character Mary Worth
delivered an insightful comment:

[ref] 1956 September 1, The Calgary Herald, Section: Comics, Comic
Strip Mary Worth by writer Allen Saunders and artist Ken Ernst of
Publishers Syndicate, (Date inscribed in comic strip is 9-2-56), Quote
Page 16 (Unnumbered), Column, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
(Newspapers_com) link [/ref]

https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald-life-happens-waiting/128614057/

[Begin excerpt]
I GUESS I WAS JUST TOO SLOW MRS. WORTH! I WANTED TO BE SURE … AND I
WANTED SUZANNE TO BE SURE!

THERE IS AN OLD SAYING, GUY, THAT LIFE IS SOMETHING WHICH HAPPENS
WHILE WE’RE WAITING FOR SOMETHING ELSE!
[End excerpt]

I conjecture that an unknown individual saw this statement and
rephrased it to yield "Life is what happens to us while we are making
other plans". This unknown individual submitted the revised instance
to "Reader’s Digest" while crediting Allen Saunders of Publishers
Syndicate. "Reader's Digest" published this version in the January
1957 issue which was distributed in December 1956. Of course, it
remains possible that Saunders wrote another instance that is closer
to the modern statement that has not yet been discovered.

The updated Quote Investigator article is available here:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/05/06/other-plans/

[Begin acknowledgement excerpt]
Many thanks to Frank Daniels who located the crucial statement written
by Allen Saunders in the September 2, 1956  "Mary Worth" comic strip.
Daniels told QI about this citation, and he suggested that the modern
version of the saying was derived from this statement by Saunders.
[End acknowledgement excerpt]

Garson O'Toole

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