[Ads-l] Quote: Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The quip in the subject line has been attributed to Will Rogers and
Mark Twain. An inquiry about its provenance came to me from a person
who encountered it in a book by Pixar and Simpsons artist Matthew Luhn
titled "The Best Story Wins: How to Leverage Hollywood Storytelling"
(2018) where it was credited to Will Rogers.

Here is a link to the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/01/26/right-track/

I concluded that the most likely creator was Tom Sims.

Will Rogers died in 1935, and he received credit by 1970. Mark Twain
died in 1910, and he received credit by 1984. The time delay in both
cases was excessive; hence, those two attributions were not
substantive.

The earliest match I found appeared within a syndicated column titled
“Tom Sims Says” which  was printed in newspapers such as “The
Sheboygan Press” of Wisconsin and “The Indianapolis Times” of Indiana.
The column contained miscellaneous jokes and observations. Here were
three items:

[ref] 1925 March 7, The Sheboygan Press, Tom Sims Says, Quote Page 24,
Column 3, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
The straight and narrow path is plenty wide for its traffic.

Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there.

Love is blind. But there is always some friend who thinks he is an eye doctor.
[End excerpt]

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

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