“If at first you don’t succeed, try a gin”
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” is a popular American poem verse from the 1830s. The verse has many joke endings that replace “try, try again.”
“If at first you don’t succeed, try a gin” was printed in The TImes (Gosford, NSW) on October 12, 1922. “IT SEEMS AS IF THE MODERN VERSION OF THE OLD SAYING IS: ‘IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED TRY, TRY A GIN!’” was printed in The Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH) on November 15, 1928. “Again” is replaced with “a gin.”
American film comedian W. C. Fields (1880-1946) is attributed with this take on the saying: “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it.” Other variations include “If at first you don’t succeed, call dad,” “If at first you don’t succeed, call it version 1.0,” “If at first you don’t succeed, drink whiskey. You’ll be amazed how little you care,” “If at first you don’t succeed, you’re running about average,” “If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried,” “If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you,” “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try management,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try two more times so your failure is statistically significant,” “If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving isn’t for you,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try left field” (baseball adage), “If at first you don’t succeed, we have a lot in common,” “Cooking Rule: If at first you don’t succeed, order pizza” and “If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.”
The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred. R. Shapiro
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 578:
Thomas H. Palmer
U.S. author, 1782-1861
“‘Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again.”
Quoted in The Village Reader (1840). The identical words, except with “try, try again,” appear in a poem titled “Perseverance; or, Try Again,” printed in Common School Assistant, Aug. 1838. No author is identified.
Newspapers.com
12 October 1922, The TImes (Gosford, NSW), “Some Proverbs in Old Dressings,” pg. 2, col. 2:
If at first you don’t succeed, try a gin.
Newspapers.com
15 November 1928, The Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH), “Jolly Polly Finds a Slip in English,” pg. 10, col. 8:
IT SEEMS AS IF THE MODERN VERSION OF THE OLD SAYING IS: “IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED TRY, TRY A GIN!”
Newspapers.com
11 March 1929, Vancouver (BC) Sun, pg. 4, col. 2:
TODAY’S GREAT OOZE
If at first you don’t succeed, try a gin.
Newspapers.com
18 September 1936, Buffalo (NY) Courier-Express, pg. 8, col. 4:
Inspiration may proceed
From a grin;
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try a gin.
Newspapers.com
25 April 1942, The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), “That’s My Fish” by Old Newt Plumm, pg. 4, col. 3:
My school teacher allus taught me “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, a GIN.”
Newspapers.com
13 October 1964, Sun-Tattler (Hollywood, FL), “Dream Street” by Robert Sylvester, pg. 8-A, col. 4:
At Al Cooper’s: Martini Drinkers: If at first You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try, A Gin.
Newspapers.com
3 September 2022, Buffalo (NY) News, pg. B8, col. 2 ad:
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T
SUCCEED, TRY A “GIN”
(The Wine & Liquor Outlet.—ed.)
Bluesky
Simon Pegg
@simonpegg.bsky.social
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try,
Try,
Try a Gin.
February 14, 2024 at 1:09 PM
X/Twitter
@Urukhai
@Urukhai43477325
If at first you don’t succeed then “try, try, try a gin”
I think I got that right. 🤔
12:43 PM · Mar 7, 2024
X/Twitter
Robert Wilkinson
@robertwlk
If at first you don’t succeed, try a gin.
7:29 AM · Jun 6, 2025