“Make a living, not a killing”

“Make a living, not a killing” has been cited in print since at least 1959 and has appeared on signs in the 2011 “Occupy Wall Street” protests. The saying plays upon the slang use of “make a killing” (i.e., a large, quick profit).
       
 
The Free Dictionary
make a killing
Fig. to have a great success, especially in making money.
   
(Oxford English Dictionary)
killing, n.
A large profit; a quick and profitable success in business, etc. slang (orig. U.S.).
1888 Texas Siftings 24 Mar. 13/2   Fred Jarvis‥getting $15,000 in The Louisiana State Lottery drawing.‥ Many‥would like to know something relative to the man who was fortunate enough to ‘make a killing’.
1912 T. Dreiser Financier xxx. 340   Railroad securities‥were considered weak under the present circumstances, and a great killing was expected.
1938 ‘N. Shute’ Ruined City i. 11   I’m a banker, of course. I don’t take tips, and I don’t make any great killings, but in my quiet way I get along all right.
 
17 May 1959, Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer, pg. 19D, col. 1 classified ad:   
WE’RE OUT TO MAKE
A LIVING NOT A KILLING
(Neal Furniture Sales—ed.)
 
Google News Archive
19 October 1969, The Robesonian (Lumberton, NC), “Garson Kanin Sings Of Broadway’s Ills,” pg. 6B, col. 6:
“Robert Anderson put it correctly when he said the theater should be a place to make a living, not a killing.”
 
Google Books
Another Roadside Attraction
By Tom Robbins
New York, NY: Bantam Books
1990
Pg. 72:
Perhaps the most astonishing characteristic of Plucky ‘s criminal career is the ethics with which he practices it. His fees are more than fair: he seeks to make a living, not a killing.
   
New York (NY) Times
BUSINESS DIGEST
Published: January 02, 1990
(...) 
The game on Wall Street in the 1990’s will be to make a living, not a killing.
 

Bob Wallace, 53, Software Pioneer, Dies
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: September 26, 2002
Bob Wallace, a pioneering programmer of the personal computer era who helped invent ‘‘shareware’’ software marketing , died on Friday at his home in San Rafael, Calif. He was 53.
(...)
But Mr. Wallace, who was influenced by the counterculture of the 1960’s and early 70’s, was never comfortable with the industry he helped create. He would later say in an interview, ‘‘My philosophy is that I want to make a living, not a killing.’‘
       
Google Books 
Apple Pie
By David Mazzotta
Coral Springs, FL: Llumina Press
2004  
Pg. 96:
It (a shirt—ed.) said: Make a Living, Not a Killing.
 
Google News Archive
23 May 2007, Gainesville (FL) Sun, “Voice of the people,” pg. 8A, col. 3:
Perhaps the old adage, “Make a living, not a killing,” is the mantra we all should follow!
Johnny Dame,
Hawthorne
 
YouTube
Utah Phillips on “Making a Living, Not a Killing”
Uploaded by mediagrrl9 on May 27, 2008
Amy Goodman interviews Utah Phillips for Democracy Now! in 2004. In part 5 of the interview, Utah tells how he started out in New York, fired his agent, and decided not to play music for profit.
 
Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer
October 19, 2011
Carol Bailey
A Call To Action to Fellow Business People
(...)
Like one of the signs says in Manhattan: “Make a living, not a killing”.  My favorite slogan.  A life based on that is more likely to be happy than one solely chasing the dollar.