WIST Quotations

Franklin, Benjamin -- “The Way to Wealth” (1758)

Dave — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 23:01:41 +0000

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
“The Way to Wealth” (1758)
(Source)

Today, this is more commonly given as "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."

Franklin had used a different phrasing in Poor Richard (1742 ed.): "Have you somewhat to do To-morrow, do it To-day." That was reprinted in Poor Richard Improved (1758 ed.), but when that latter work was condensed into "The Way to Wealth" that same year, the wording above was used.

As with so many of Franklin's "Poor Richard" aphorisms, this was not original to him. Thomas Fuller uses a similar phrase in 1725.

The sentiment itself has been mocked or modified by others such as Mark Twain, Josh Bilings, Aldous Huxley, Pablo Picasso, and Mignon McLaughlin.

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 124 (1725)

Dave — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 22:47:52 +0000

Never do that to Morrow, which thou canst as well do to Day.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Introductio ad Prudentiam, Vol. 1, # 124 (1725)
(Source)

See Franklin.

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 148 “Affurisms: Ink Brats” (1874)

Dave — Fri, 31 May 2024 14:16:57 +0000

Put not oph till to-morrow what can be enjoyed to-day.

[Put not off till tomorrow what can be enjoyed today.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 148 “Affurisms: Ink Brats” (1874)
(Source)

Twain, Mark -- “Memoranda: The Late Benjamin Franklin,” epigraph, The Galaxy Magazine (Jul 1870)

Dave — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 21:59:37 +0000

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do day after tomorrow just as well.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
“Memoranda: The Late Benjamin Franklin,” epigraph, The Galaxy Magazine (Jul 1870)
(Source)

Offered as a faux Franklin maxim, in an essay where Twain mocked veneration of Franklin's biography and supposedly original aphorisms.

More background on this quotation: Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do The Day After Tomorrow Just As Well – Quote Investigator.