A famous writer is attributed to the authorship of the phrase that pleasure always has a flip side. We checked whether such an attribution is true.
The expression is associated with Wilde the largest Russian -speaking sites with quotes collections, including Citaty.net, Socratify.net, "Quotes.info" Aforizm.org And Tsitaty.ru. A phrase supposedly belonging to the writer is also shared by users "VKontakte", Instagram, Twitter and other social networks.
Apparently, this phrase was connected with Oscar Wilde precisely in Russia. At least in the English -speaking environment, it is given either at all without indicating the author, or attributed Alexander Wulkott - The American writer and criticism of the first half of the 20th century. As a statement by Wilde, this quote can occasionally be found on dubious English -speaking sites, and the wording (All Beautiful Things in this Life are Either Immoral, or Illegal, or Lead to Obesity) is similar to a literary translation of the Russian -language version. The phrase of the authorship of Wulkott usually sounds different: “All the Things I Really Like to do are either Immoral, illegal, or fattening” - but this is not a canonical option.
The Quote Investigator portal believes that Wulkott was not the author of this quote, but only popularized the expression. How They say Our colleagues, the earliest use of the phrase dates from September 16, 1933. On that day, the Albany Evening News newspaper appeared on the radio program, in which Wulkott took part shortly before. The reporter retold, in particular, a fragment of the ether, in which the writer talked about a certain Frank Rande from St. Louis, who cared for his figure and therefore dined with boulevard cubes and salad leaves. According to Wulkott, once Rand was asked if he was eating like that because he likes it. “No, I hate it. But it seems that everything that I like is either illegal, or immoral, or gets over, ”he answered.
Three months later, Rand “lost” the authorship of the phrase - Reader’s Digest attributed it to Wulkott. At the same time, the wording has also changed: “Everything that I really like to do is either immoral, or illegally, or filled.” In 1934, a very similar phrase was used in the feature film Six of A Kind without links to really existing people.
We assume that in the Russian-speaking Internet the phrase began to be attributed to Wilde in the late 2000s-at least on the website of “Quote.info” such an attribution appeared In July 2008, and in earlier publications it is not found. For example, in the article of the magazine "Kommersant Power" in 1993 It is said: “As the witty people like to joke," everything that is good in life is either illegally or immoral, or leads to obesity. " In a similar formulation, the phrase can be found in selectioncompiled in the late 1990s founder site Anekdot.ru Dmitry Verner. In 2005, in a conversation with singer Valery Leontyev interviewer He called it This is the expression “one of the laws of Murphy” (probably meaning joking Rule “Everything that may go wrong will go wrong,” although the connection between two expressions is not entirely clear). Victor Sheynov in the book “Hidden Management of Man. Psychology of manipulation "(2006) and at all attributed The phrase to the writer and philosopher Francois de Laroshfuko.
Incorrect attribution of quote
- The Quote Investigator. IT SeeMS as if ANYTHING IS EITHER ILLEGAL, IMMOral, or Fattening
- “All the Things I Really Like to Do Are Either Immoral, Illegal, or Fattening”
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