Who first said, “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it”? Is it an old Chinese proverb or more recent American maxim?
The Quote Investigator works it over and decides he doesn’t know, but there’s this:
One instance appeared on March 7, 1903 in a periodical called “The Public” based in Chicago, Illinois. An acknowledgment to the humor magazine “Puck” was appended.
Things move along so rapidly nowadays that people saying: “It can’t be done,” are always being interrupted by somebody doing it.—Puck.
I saw that quotation on Facebook the other day, and I thought, “It would be hard to conceive of an idea more inconsistent with traditional Chinese thought than that one.”
Lars, haven’t you heard that old Buddhist proverb?
“Never question a profound-sounding quotation you read on Facebook.”
I think Lord Krishna said that.
Speaking of which, have y’all noticed our blog quotes are back? I have to put them in again individually, but several are there now.