“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one”

“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one” is an employment quotation that is frequently credited to author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), but there is no evidence that he ever used it. “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without it” was credited to “Nuggets” in one June 1973 newspaper and to the column “Lighter Side,” by Gene Brown, in another June 1973 newspaper.
 
     
15 June 1973, Ada (OK) Evening News, “Comment,” pg. 6, col. 1:
The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without it.—Nuggets.
 
21 June 1973, Oneonta (NY) Star, “Lighter Side” by Gene Brown, pg. 4, col. 1:
Today’s Consolation
The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without it.
 
27 September 1974, Omaha (NE) World-Herald,  “I Wish” by Bobbi, pg. 13, col. 2:
I’d said: “The surest way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without it.”
 
Google Books
14,000 Quips & Quotes:
For Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House
1990, ©1980
Pg. 275:
The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.
 
14 February 1999, Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald, pg. A3, col. 5 ad:
t.F.T.D.—The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.
(Imperial Fashions—ed.)
 
Google Books
What’s Up America?:
A Foreigner’s Guide to Understanding Americans
By Diane Asitimbay
San Diego, CA : Culturelink Press
2004
Pg. 175:
“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” - Oscar Wilde, humorist (1856-1900)
 
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5:00 PM - 28 Dec 13