[Ads-l] Proverb Origin: The first hundred years are the hardest

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

"The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" (DMP) compiled by Charles Clay
Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro has an entry for the
expression in the subject line. The creator of the comic in the first
citation was Briggs.

[Begin excerpt from DMP page 284]
The first hundred years are the hardest.

1918 Bridgeport [CT] Telegram 29 Jul. (heading of a sequence of
cartoon panels depicting the difficulties of a golfer over the years):
“The first hundred years are the hardest.” MP Y3; DAP 685(10); RHDP
97; YBQ Modern Proverbs (31).

The proverb probably originated as an anti-proverb, exaggerating (from
absurdity to impossibility) the already-jocular proverb "The first
five years are the hardest."
[End excerpt from DMP]

Non-humorous statements of the following form have a long history:
"The first X years are the hardest". It is natural to wonder when
comically exaggerated instances emerged. The DMP has the following
germane entry:

[Begin excerpt from DMP page 284]
The first five (six, etc.) years are the hardest.

1918 100%: The Efficiency Magazine (Feb.) 53: "When Sir Douglas Haig
was asked how long he thought the war would last he replied: 'I think
the first five years will be the hardest,' and a famous French general
is credited with the opinion on the same subject that the first seven
years would be the hardest and then every fourteenth year."
[End excerpt from DMP]

"The New Yale Book of Quotations" (NYBQ) contains a pertinent entry
for "The first hundred years are the hardest" which presents the
citation from the DMP.

The first citation I have found for a humorous version of "The first X
years are the hardest" appeared in1912.

[ref] 1912 December 29, The Sunday Journal, Section 8: Society, Just a
Jest Or Two, Quote Page 8, Column 5, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Wilton Lackaye is entertaining in Chicago, both in the theater in
which he is employed, playing a principal role in "Fine Feathers," and
in the cafes where he occasionally dines and relaxes .
 ...
"The  tall- man," explained Miss Weston, "has been married to the
short woman twenty-six years tonight, and they are very, very happy,"
Mr. Lackaye glowed. "Fine!" he said; "I'm glad of it. The first
twenty-six years are always the hardest."
[End excerpt]

The first citation I have found for the expression in the subject line
appeared in a one panel comic by Tad Dorgan in January 1918. The line
is delivered by a small dog.

[ref] 1918 January 9, The Fort Wayne News And Sentinel, One Panel
Comic: Indoor Sports by Tad (Thomas Aloysius Dorgan), Quote Page 14,
Column 2, Fort Wayne, Indiana. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fort-wayne-news-and-sentinel-first-1/156392693/

[Begin excerpt]
WELL, AS BILL DOWNING SAYS THE FIRST 100 YEARS ARE THE HARDEST
[End excerpt]

In February 1918 a New York columnist credited  "Thomas Aloysius",
i.e., Thomas Aloysius Dorgan or Tad.

[ref] 1918 February 12, New-York Tribune, Listening In by Louis Lee
Arms, Short Editorial, Quote Page 12, Column 4, New York.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
As Thomas Aloysius says, the first hundred years are the hardest!
[End excerpt]

In "The Quote Verifier" Ralph Keyes commented that the humorous
expression in the subject line has been credited to both the famous
wit Wilson Mizner and the notable cartoonist Tad Dorgan.

Below is the first attribution to Mizner I have found:

[ref] 1918 August 29, The Buffalo Evening Times, Mizner in Street Row
Over an Actress, Quote Page 8, Column 6, Buffalo, New York.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Wilson Mizner, playwright, actor and author of the expression, "Life's
a tough proposition and the first 100 years are the toughest part of
it," was before Magistrate Groenl in the West Side Court yesterday,
testifying in a much-involved case.
[End excerpt]

In 1921 H. L. Mencken attributed the expression to WWI soldiers.

[ref] 1921, The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of
English in the United States by H. L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken),
Second Edition Revised and Enlarged, Section: Appendix, Chapter 3:
Proverb and Platitude, Quote Page 425, Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
(Internet Archive at archive.org) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
The war, as we have seen in the chapter on Slang, produced very little
new slang, but the doughboys showed all the national talent for
manufacturing proverbs and proverbial expressions, chiefly derisive.
...
Perhaps the favorite in the army was "It's a great life if you don't
weaken," though "They say the first hundred years are the hardest"
offered it active rivalry.
[End excerpt]

(Sidenote) I have a QI article "It's a Great Life If You Don't Weaken"
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/01/11/weaken/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

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