[Ads-l] Quote about kindness: I expect to pass through this world but once . . . (Warning about Newspapers.com error and Wikiquote error)

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sat Dec 2 04:55:16 UTC 2023


The Quote Investigator website now has an article about the quotation
referenced in the subject line.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2023/12/01/kindness-now/

Feedback welcome
Garson O’Toole

On Mon, Nov 20, 2023 at 1:25 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I received a request to investigate a saying about kindness that
> begins with the statement in the subject line. Below is the earliest
> citation I have found. Perhaps a colleague can find an earlier match?
>
> [ref] 1868 October 31, The Independent, Worth Remembering, Quote Page
> 1, Column 4, Oskaloosa, Kansas. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> WORTH REMEMBERING.--The following soliloquy of a wise man is
> applicable to and should be put into practice by every mother's son
> and daughter of the race: "I expect to pass through this world but
> once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good
> thing that I can do, to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let
> me not defer nor neglect it; for I will not pass this way again."
> [End excerpt]
>
> Many attributions have emerged during subsequent decades, but the
> earliest citations are all anonymous.
>
> Warning: The newspapers.com database has a citation which it claims is
> dated January 15, 1868, but this date is incorrect. The page scan with
> the quotation has no date, but the previous page specified the date
> January 15, 1869 in the upper right corner.

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