WIST Quotations

Doctor Who (1963) -- 18×02 “Meglos,” Part 1 (1980-09-27) [w. John Flannagan, Andrew McCulloch]

Dave — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 19:02:10 +0000

ROMANA: Please, please, can we do just one thing at a time?

THE DOCTOR: First things first?

ROMANA: Exactly.

THE DOCTOR: But not necessarily in that order.

Doctor Who (1963-1989) British science fiction television series, original run (BBC)
18×02 “Meglos,” Part 1 (1980-09-27) [w. John Flannagan, Andrew McCulloch]
(Source)

(Source (Video) at 1:11).

Almost always elided as "First things first, but not necessarily in that order."

Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son, #121 (14 Apr 1747)

Dave — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 19:40:03 +0000

A man is fit for neither business nor pleasure, who either cannot, or does not, command and direct his attenti0on to the present object, and, in some degree, banish for that time all other objects from his thoughts. If at a ball, a supper, or a party of pleasure, a man were to be solving, in his own mind, a problem in Euclid, he would be a very bad companion, and make a very poor figure in that company; or if, in studying a problem in his closet, he were to think of a minuet, I am apt to believe that he would make a very poor mathematician. There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, wit [Philip Dormer Stanhope]
Letter to his son, #121 (14 Apr 1747)
(Source)

Nash, Ogden -- “First Child … Second Child,” Versus (1949)

Dave — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 14:29:59 +0000

FIRST …
Let the rockets flash and the cannon thunder,
This child is a marvel, a matchless wonder.
A staggering child, a child astounding,
Dazzling, diaperless, dumbfounding,
Stupendous, miraculous, unsurpassed,
A child to stagger and flabbergast,
Bright as a button, sharp as a thorn,
And the only perfect one ever born.

SECOND
Arrived this evening at half-past nine.
Everybody is doing fine.
Is it a boy, or quite the reverse?
You can call in the morning and ask the nurse.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American poet
“First Child … Second Child,” Versus (1949)
(Source)

Toffler, Alvin -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 22:48:57 +0000

The future always arrives too fast — and in the wrong order.

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) American writer and futurist
(Attributed)

~Proverbs and Sayings -- American proverb (New England)

Dave — Thu, 29 May 2014 13:06:05 +0000

The quickest way to do many things is to do one thing at a time.

Proverbs, Sayings, and Adages
American proverb (New England)

Brilliant, Ashleigh -- Pot-Shots

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

It’s not easy taking my problems one at a time when they refuse to get in line.

Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots

Hubbard, Elbert -- The Philistine (1909-12)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Life is just one damn thing after another.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
The Philistine (1909-12)
(Source)

Elbert is likely not the first to express this, though he helped to popularize it. The phrase is presented in The Philistine in a list of aphorisms, uncredited and uncited. Hubbard was the editor of the magazine, and a presumed contributor. Soon collected in Hubbard's A Thousand & One Epigrams (1911).

The earliest documented forms of this phrase show up in 1909 in various periodicals (such as Hubbard's Philistine). Also in 1909, Lilian Bell published The Concentrations of Bee:

“Bob has a motto on his wall which says ‘Life is just one damned thing after another!'” said Jimmie. But I refused to smile. I was too distinctly annoyed.

Note that the phrase is showing up (in the book) as second-hand, not necessarily as something Bell wrote.

The phrase is often attributed to Mark Twain. It is not found in Twain's works. The earliest attribution to him found is in H. L. Mencken, The American Language: A Preliminary Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States, Sec. 9 (1919), where he says that the Twain is "commonly credited" with the phrase.

Variants:

"Life is just one damned thing after another."
"Life is just one darn thing after another."

More information about this quotation: Life Is Just One Damn Thing After Another – Quote Investigator®

See Zelazny.