[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Keep Your Eye On the Doughnut, Not the Hole

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

When movie director David Lynch died "Variety" attributed the
following expression to him: Keep your eye on the donut and not on the
hole. I received a request to explore the provenance of this saying
which evolved over time. Here is a link to the article:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/01/21/doughnut-hole/

"The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" compiled by Doyle, Mieder, and
Shapiro contains an entry for this saying with a first citation dated
June 1908. The QI article points to a cartoon in "Judge" magazine on
February 22, 1908 with the following caption:

DON’T LOOK AT THE HOLE, KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE DOUGHNUT.

A precursor four-line verse appeared in "The Sun" of New York on April 15, 1904.

'Twixt optimist and pessimist
The difference is droll;
The optimist the doughnut sees--
The pessimist the hole.

Barry Popik lists the verse above on his pertinent webpage  titled
"Keep Your Eye Upon the Donut" (Optimist's Creed)
https://barrypopik.com/blog/keep_your_eye_upon_the_donut_optimists_creed

Feedback welcome
Garson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org