“If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you”
“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…pay someone else to do it for you!” was posted on the newsgroup bit.listserv.lawsch-l on April 22, 1995. Authorship is unknown.
“‘If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you’ - Mark Hoppus” was posted on Twitter on March 9, 2010. However, there is no evidence that American muisician Mark Hoppus originated the saying in the mid-1990s, when his band Blink-182 was unknown.
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, 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” and “Cooking Rule: If at first you don’t succeed, order pizza.” A different version is, “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.
Google Groups: bit.listserv.lawsch-l
“BARtending”
FFarren
4/22/95
(...)
“If at first you don’t succeed . . .
pay someone else to do it for you!”
Google Groups: demon.tech.amiga
HP Deskjet 400 driver?
Harry Adams
2/26/96
(...)
If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it
Google Groups: demon.tech.amiga
Crossdos 1.44mb?
Harry Adams
4/26/96
(...)
If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it
1 November 2006, The Daily Mirror (London, UK), “New Rules of Life” by Nick Webster, pg. 35:
If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it.
Twitter
Charles LeRette
@CharlesLeRette
If at first you don’t succeed… pay someone to do it.
9:31 AM - 18 Nov 2008
Twitter
Jordan Jandt
@jandter
If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you.
3:06 PM - 11 Mar 2009
Twitter
ardianto dwi prabowo
@ardigress
nah ini baru indonesia bgtRT @blink182_INA: #blink182quotes “If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you” - Mark Hoppus
4:08 AM - 9 Mar 2010
Twitter
elki hendria
@elkihendria
“If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you” -mark hoppus
4:09 AM - 9 Mar 2010
Twitter
Philip DeFranco
@PhillyD
If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it.
8:43 PM - 28 May 2015
Inc.
19 Things to Tell Yourself If You Really Hate Motivational Sayings
Sick of tired of those motivational one-liners? Then this is just for you.
By Chris Matyszczyk
PUBLISHED ON: SEP 23, 2016
(...)
11. If at first you don’t succeed pay someone to do it for you.
No, this is not the Task Rabbit tagline.
Twitter
Jean-Pierre DEMURGER
@pandoraskids
If at first you don’t succeed, pay someone else to do it for you. #quote http://jpdemurger.mlspsites.com/breaking-news
2:23 PM - 26 Jun 2018