[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]

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.

The front page does not list a year, but it says "Friday Morning,
January 15". This makes sense because January 15, 1869 was a Friday.
However, January 15, 1868 was a Wednesday. Here is the corrected
citation:

[ref] 1869 January 15, The Coshocton Age, (Untitled filler item),
Quote Page 2, Column 2, Coshocton, Ohio. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
A Worthy Quaker thus wrote, "I expect, to pass through this world but
once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good
thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not
defer or neglect it, for I will not pass this way again."
[End excerpt]

The Wikiquote article for Stephen Grellet says:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Grellet

[Begin excerpt]
It appears to have been published as an anonymous proverb at least as
early as 1859, when it appeared in Household Words : A Weekly Journal.
[End excerpt]

I cannot find any matches for the quotation in Google Books in 1859.
This year seems to be an error. The quotation did appear in 1881 in
"Household Words". The earliest full citation presented in the
Wikiquote article is dated June 1869 in "Scott's Monthly Magazine".

Thes second earliest citation I found for the quotation appeared in a
Friends (Quaker) periodical:

 [ref] 1868 November 14 (Eleventh Month), Friends' Intelligencer,
Volume 25, Number 37, (Untitled filler item), Quote Page 582, Column
1, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=EDtKAAAAYAAJ&q=%22any+kindness%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
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 or neglect it, for I
will not pass this way again.
[End excerpt]

In 1877 the saying was attributed to William Penn (a late date).

[ref] 1877, Light For the Day; Or, Heavenly Thoughts for Earthly
Guidance: A Daily Monitor by Tryon Edwards, Date: January 15, Quote
Page 22, Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=cyk3AAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+defer%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
I expect to go through this world but once. If, therefore, there be
any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any
fellow-being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I
shall not pass this way again.--Wm. Penn.
[End excerpt]

The quotation is sometimes attributed to Mrs. Hegeman. The 1880
citation below indicates that it appeared in her family Bible.

[ref] 1880 July 22, The Youth’s Companion, Volume 53, Number 30, A
Good Resolution, Quote Page 252, Column 2, Perry Mason & Company,
Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=ajLOtankXaUC&q=Hegeman#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
The record which was found in the family Bible of Mrs. Hegeman, of New
York, one of the victims of the Madison Square Garden disaster,
deserves printing in every man's pocket-book:

I expect to pass through this life but once. If there is any kindness
to show or any good thing I can do to my fellow beings, let me do it
now. Let me not defer nor neglect it. I will pass this way but once.
[End excerpt]

Stephen Grellet received credit by 1884 (a late date).

[ref] 1884 April 5, The Indianapolis Journal, Religious Notes, Quote
Page 12, Column 1, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing,
therefore, that I can do, or any kindness I can show, to any fellow
human being let me do it. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall
not pass this way again.—Stephen Grellet.

The saying is sometimes attributed to Edward Courtenay. The 1890
citation below claims it appeared as an epitaph on his tomb.
Apparently, the actual epitaph differed from this, but this citation
helps to explain the attribution.

[ref] 1890 March 13, The Christian Union, Section: Inquiring Friends,
Quote Page 375, Column 3, The Christian Union, New York. (Google Books
Full View) link [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=MkUdK-FEMxUC&q=Courtenay#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
In answer to the inquiry of F.L.P. in last week's paper, I find in a
note-book of my father's, in which he began sixty years ago to copy
beautiful thoughts and extracts, the following "Epitaph on the tomb of
Edward Courtenay, the Earl of Devonshire:"

"I expect to pass through this world but once; if, therefore, there be
any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, to any fellow
human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I
shall not pass this way again.

Let this be my epitaph:
What I spent I had;
What I saved I left behind;
What I gave away I took with me."   P.
[End excerpt]

Garson O'Toole

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