If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a brief proverb (from back in 1840) by Thomas H. Palmer that:

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”

 

I was looking at Annie Duke’s 2022 book, Quit: the power of knowing when to walk away, and found she quoted a newer and profane parody of it (attributed to the comedian W. C. Fields):

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

 Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it.”

 

Annie referenced the Quote Investigator web site by Garson O’Toole, which has an article on August 12, 2013 titled If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it. Mr. O’Toole found that it did not come from Fields, but was attributed to him after he had died. There are other versions with ‘silly’ rather than ‘a damn fool.’

 

There are two other variations by Barry Popik at The Big Apple. The first one from August 30, 2012 is:

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.”

 

The second one from January 3, 2017 is:

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try two more times so your failure is statistically significant.”

 

There is a third variation at an article in the 2015, Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (by Jennifer Speake and J. A. Simpson):

 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try reading the instructions.”

 

Thomas H. Palmer’s original proverb had appeared on page 223 of his 1840 book titled The Teacher’s Manual. It is the third and fourth lines from a longer poem:

 

“TRY, TRY AGAIN

 

‘Tis a lesson you should heed,

Try, try again;

If at first you don’t succeed,

Try, try again;

Then your courage should appear,

For, if you will persevere,

You will conquer, never fear;

Try, try again;

 

Once or twice, though you should fail,

Try, try again;

If you would, at last prevail,

Try, try again;

If we strive, ‘tis no disgrace,

Though we may not win the race;

What should you do in the case?

Try, try again;

 

If you find your task is hard,

Try, try again;

Time will bring you your reward,

Try, try again;

All that other folks can do,

Why, with patience, should not you?

Only keep this rule in view,

TRY, TRY AGAIN”