[Ads-l] "Time is what keeps everything from happening at once."

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

That is a fun quotation, JL.
Back in 2022 I contacted librarians at the University of Louisville
Archives and Special Collections Repository who kindly provided me
with scans of the March 15, 1919 issue of "All-Story Weekly"; hence, I
was able to verify the presence of the quotation in the tale "The Girl
in the Golden Atom" by Ray Cumming as indicated in this ADS-L message:

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-August/162042.html

Here is a link to the QI article:
Quote Origin: Time Is What Keeps Everything From Happening At Once
Albert Einstein? Ray Cummings? Mark Twain? Arthur C. Clarke? John
Archibald Wheeler? Arthur Power Dudden? Susan Sontag?

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/07/06/time/

Garson

On Sat, Jun 28, 2025 at 7:16 PM Jonathan Lighter
<00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> A learned YouTube video about relativity attributes these words to (wait
> for it!) Mark Twain, who seems to have said most of the things worth
> thinking about.
>
> YBQ correctly credits the American sf pioneer Ray Cummings, citing "The
> Time Professor" (1921).
>
> It appears, however, that Cummings had written the memorable line somewhat
> earlier. It appears in Cummings's "The Girl in the Golden Atom," which
> according to anthologist Sam Moskowitz appeared in _All-Story Weekly_
> (March 15, 1919).   (Cited and reprinted in Moskowitz, _Under the Moons of
> Mars_ [N.Y.: Holt, 1970], p. 175.)
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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