[Ads-l] Quip Origin: Buy land. They are not making any more

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The quip in the subject line has been attributed to Mark Twain and
Will Rogers. Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/10/29/buy-land/

The earliest match I found occurred in 1905, and the creator was
anonymous. There is no substantive evidence that Twain who died in
1910 employed the quip. Twain received credit by 1971. Will Rogers
wrote a thematically related passage in 1930 after the joke was
already circulating. Rogers died in 1935, and he received credit for
the concise quip by 1954.

Here is an overview depicting the evolution of the statement together
with dates and ascriptions.

1905 Oct 13: Buy land … God almighty isn’t making any more land
(Attributed to an old gentleman)

1905 Oct 20: Buy more land … God almighty isn’t makin’ any more land
(Attributed to an old Irishman)

1916 Oct 07: Buy more land. God is not in the real estate business any
more now and He is not going to make any more land (Reverend C. L.
Davis)

1922 Apr 16: “God Almighty long ago stopped making Shore Lots” … Buy
now, while you can (Attributed to a reverend gentleman)

1930 Apr 13: I had been putting what little money I had in Ocean
Frontage, for the sole reason that there was only so much of it and no
more, and that they wasent making any more (Will Rogers)

1936 Nov 12: I asked him why he continued to buy land? … “The Lord
made the world and stopped making land” (Attributed to a friend)

1954 Feb 21: “Buy Land” — they ain’t making any more of that stuff
(Attributed to Will Rogers)

1961 Mar 30: Buy land—they’re not making it any more (Anonymous)

1965 Aug 21: Buy land while you can — they’ve stopped making it (Anonymous)

1971 May 24: Buy land, they’ve stopped making it (Attributed to Mark Twain)

1971 Sep 19: Buy land as they’re not making any more (Attributed to Mark Twain)

1973 Mar 17: Buy land. They’ve stopped making it. (Attributed to
Arthur M. Pearson)

1997 Oct 06: Buy land … “God ain’t gonna invent any more.” (Attributed
to Mark Twain)

2000: Buy land! They ain’t making any more of it. (Attributed to Will Rogers)

2017: Buy land. They’re not making it anymore (Attributed to Mark Twain)

Barry Popik has explored this topic. He found helpful partial matches
starting in 1909.
https://barrypopik.com/blog/buy_land_they_aint_making_any_more_of_it

Feedback and citations welcome
Garson

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