[Ads-l] Quote Origin: It Ain't Bragging If You Can Do It

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The saying in the subject line has been attributed to three baseball
players: Dizzy Dean. Reggie Jackson, and Babe Ruth. It has also been
credited to two boxers: Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. The New Yale
Book of Quotations lists a 1983 attribution to Dizzy Dean.

U.S. professional baseball pitcher Jay Hanna Dean was known by his
nickname Dizzy Dean. In 1934 he published an article in several
newspapers which discussed bragging. Dean communicated the central
idea of the saying, but he employed a different phrasing:

[Begin excerpt]
There's one thing about us Deans. Some people think we do a lot of
bragging, but we don't figure it's bragging. When we say we're good we
say it because we believe it down in our hearts and I--I kinda think
you could get a pretty good argument out of Mickey Cochrane if you
tried to tell him that we weren't so hot as pitchers.

What I started to say, though, was that we don't brag. Whenever we say
we're going to do something we go out and do it.
[End excerpt]

Dizzy Dean's extraordinary pitching performance helped his team, the
St. Louis Cardinals, win the National League pennant and the World
Series in 1934. I believe that Dean's essay was condensed and
paraphrased over time to yield the sayings attributed to Dean. Below
is an overview showing the evolution of the phrase together with
dates, and attributions.

1934: We don't brag. Whenever we say we're going to do something we go
out and do it. (Dizzy Dean)
1935: It's not bragging when a fellow can back up anything he says.
(Attributed to Dizzy Dean)
1943: If I can do what I say, it ain't bragging, is it? (Attributed to
Dizzy Dean)
1951: It ain't bragging when you can back it up. (Attributed to Dizzy Dean)
1958: It ain't bragging when you can do it. (Attributed to Dizzy Dean)
1959: It ain't bragging if you can do it! (Attributed to Dizzy Dean)
1962: It ain't bragging if you can do it. (Anonymous "old adage")
1966: It ain't bragging when you done done it. (Attributed to Dizzy Dean)
1968: If I tell the truth. It sounds like bragging. And if I don't,
I'm lying. (Sonny Liston)
1973: It ain't bragging if you can do it. (Attributed to Muhammad Ali)
1974: It ain't bragging if it's true. (Attributed to Dizzy Dean)
1976: If you do it, it ain't bragging. (A profound philosopher)
1990: It ain't bragging when you can do it. (Attributed to Reggie Jackson)
1994: It ain't bragging if you can do it. (Attributed to Babe Ruth)
2007: It's not bragging if you can back it up. (Attributed to Muhammad Ali)

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator (QI) article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/08/22/not-brag/

The previous QI article discussed a remark spoken by Emily Dickinson.

Quote Origin: I Find Ecstasy in Living; the Mere Sense of Living Is Joy Enough
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/08/18/ecstasy-joy/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

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