Ifferisms
An Anthology of Aphorisms That Begin with the Word "IF"
Chapter One
If Anything Can Go Wrong, It Will
Classic Ifferisms
In 1911, the American writer and publisher Elbert Hubbard—best known as the author of the inspirational story "A Message to Garcia"—aroused controversy when he suggested that he was the original author of a popular American sentiment:
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon,
or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor,
though he builds his house in the woods,
the world will make a beaten path to his door.
Quotation researchers were quickly on the case and discovered that, in an 1855 journal entry, Ralph Waldo Emerson had written something similar: "If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods." You will notice, though, that there is no mention of a mousetrap.
In 1889, seven ye ... read full excerpt from: Ifferisms ebook
