“What may be done at any time will be done at no time” is an adage that has been printed on many images. “What my be done at any Time, will be done at no Time” was included in the book Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British (1732) by Thomas Fuller (1654-1734).
“What may be done at any time, will be done at no time,” explained as “What people may, and can do easily, will be put off from time to time,” was included in the book A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs (1818) by James Kelly. The saying is often credited as a Scottish proverb—probably because of its inclusion in this book—but the exact origin is unknown.
Google Books
Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs;
Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British
Collected by Thomas Fuller
London, UK: Printed for B. Barker
1732
Pg. 240:
5500 What my be done at any Time, will be done at no Time.
Google Books
A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs:
Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader
By James Kelly
London, UK: Printed for Rodwell & martin
1818
Pg. 225:
120. What may be done at any time, will be done at no time.
What people may, and can do easily, will be put off from time to time.
Newspapers.com
9 September 1833, Middlebury (VT) Argus, pg. 1, col. 5:
What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
1 November 1845, Michigan Farmer (Lansing, MI), pg. 123, col. 2:
What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
Google Books
A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising an Entire Republication of Ray’s Collection of English Proverbs
By John Ray
Collected by Henry G. Bohn
London, UK: H. G. Bohn
1855
Pg. 555:
What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
(The proverb does not appear in English Proverbs, a 1670 book by John Ray.—ed.)
Newspapers.com
26 November 1845, New-England Farmer (Boston, MA), pg. 1, col. 3:
What may be done at any time will, probably, be done at no time.
Google Books
Title What May Be Done at Any Time Will Be Done at No Time.: Motivational Notebbok, Notebook for Students
Author Peter Night
Publisher Independently Published, 2019
ISBN 1795191066, 9781795191067
Length 112 pages
Subjects Education › General
Twitter
Eddie de Jong
@AuthorEddie
What may be done at any time will be done at no time. Scottish Proverb http://bit.ly/1u1O6oM #TimeManagement
1:50 AM · Nov 19, 2019·Tweet Suite
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
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