“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t”

“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t” is a wok saying that has been printed on many images. The saying is usually credited to American statesman Martin Van Buren (1792-1862), but he never said it.
 
“It’s easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.—Martin Vanbee” was cited in The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT) on October 21, 1940. “Martin Vanbee” was the pen name for Van Buren Hooper, Sr., the founder of Ideal Magazine, who died in 1963.
     
 
21 October 1940, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), “Senator From Sandpit” by Ham Park, pg. 4, col. 4:
It’s easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.—Martin Vanbee.
 
24 June 1946, The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet (Van Nuys, CA), “News-Graphs” by Walter Mendenhall, pg. 1, col. 1:
NO ALIBIS
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”
—MARTIN VAN BUREN
 
22 November 1948, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, “Quotable Quotes,” pg. 14, col. 3:
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”—Martin Van Buren.
 
Google Books
Successful Delegation:
How to Grow Your People, Build Your Team, Free Up Your Time, and Increase Profits and Productivity
By Frank F. Huppe
Hawthorne, NJ: Career Press
1994
Pg. 71:
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.” — Martin Van Buren
       
Google Books
What Not to Do at Work!
By Linda J. Beam
Birmingham, AL: Sweetwater Press
2005
Pg. 94:
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.” Martin Van Buren
   
Google Books
Forbes Book of Quotations:
10,000 Thoughts on the Business of Life
Edited by Ted Goodman
New York, NY: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
2016
Pg. ?:
It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.
Martin Van Buren
 
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It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t. - Martin Van Buren
12:19 AM - 1 Jun 2018
 
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It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t. - Martina Navratilova #tennis #FridayFact #FridayFunday #FF #FridayReads #FitnessFriday #FADBAD #SportsQuotes
9:00 PM - 1 Jun 2018