“No one is listening until you make a mistake” is a jocular saying that has been printed on gift items, such as T-shirts and bumper stickers. The saying has been cited in print since at least 1984 and is of unknown authorship.
Google Books
Models for Clear Writing
By Robert B. Donald, et al.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1984
Pg. 112:
No one is listening until you make a mistake.
Google Books
The Complete Murphy’s Law:
A Definitive Collection
By Arthur Bloch
Los Angeles, CA: Price Stern Sloan
1990
Pg. 134:
Vile’s Law for Educators
No one is listening until you make a mistake.
15 April 1998, Plainview (TX) Daily Herald, “Some witticisms and a prayer” by Danny Andrews,
“No one is listening until you make a mistake.”
22 June 1998, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), “Spotlite”:
“No one is listening until you make a mistake.”
Google Books
Jokes, Quotes, And Other Assorted Things
By Stephen Motway
Xlibris Corporation
2011
Pg. 222:
No one is listening until you make a mistake.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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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.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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