WIST Quotations

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1745 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:34:59 +0000

No gains without pains.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1745 ed.)
(Source)

Franklin recapped this in his final Poor Richard Improved (1758 ed.): "There are no Gains, without Pains." This was in turn reprinted in abridged Way to Wealth (1773).

Sometimes erroneously cited to Poor Richard (1734 ed.); that has something different in structure and meaning: "Hope of gain / Lessens pain."

See also Breton (1577) and Herrick (1648).

Herrick, Robert -- Poem (1648), “No Pains, No Gains,” Hesperides, # 752

Dave — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 18:00:12 +0000

If little labour, little are our gains;
Man’s fortunes are according to his pains.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674) English poet
Poem (1648), “No Pains, No Gains,” Hesperides, # 752
(Source)

See Breton (1577)

Breton, Nicholas -- Workes of a Young Wyt (1577)

Dave — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:34:39 +0000

SUSAN: The world is hard, they must take pain that look for any gayn.

Nicholas Breton (c. 1545/53 - c. 1625/26) English Renaissance poet and prose writer [Britton; Brittaine]
Workes of a Young Wyt (1577)
(Source)

First record of something resembling "No pain, no gain" in English.

Quarles, Francis -- Esther, Sec. 9, Meditation 9 (1621)

Dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 13:46:40 +0000

The way to bliss lies not on beds of down,
And he that has no cross deserves no crown.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644) English poet
Esther, Sec. 9, Meditation 9 (1621)

Penn, William -- “No Cross, No Crown” (1682)

Dave — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:09:11 +0000

No pain, no palm;
No thorns, no throne;
No gall, no glory;
No cross, no crown.

William Penn (1644-1718) English writer, philosopher, politician, statesman
“No Cross, No Crown” (1682)

Originally written while a prisoner in the Tower of London (1668-69). See Quarles (1621), Breton (1577).