Connect2God: Instant Messages from God to Teens · 2004 exact wording · 2003 precursor
Who Said “Comparison Is the Thief of Joy”?
No reliable Roosevelt speech, book, letter or contemporary record has been identified. Ray Cummings printed the close precursor “A third thief of joy is comparison” in 2003. Curt Cloninger printed the exact phrase in 2004 but introduced it as an anonymous saying.
Popular wording
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
Documented wording
“Somebody once said that comparison is the thief of joy.”
Context
How the wording developed
The surviving evidence suggests a modern saying that developed in stages. A related sentence about comparison and contentment appeared in 1989, the distinctive “thief of joy” precursor appeared in 2003 and the exact wording was printed anonymously in 2004. Famous-name attributions came later.
Attribution note
Use “Anonymous” or “Origin uncertain; exact wording documented by 2004.” Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and C. S. Lewis should not be credited without a reliable primary source.
- Popular attribution
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Document
- Connect2God: Instant Messages from God to Teens
- Exact wording
- Curt Cloninger, page 13
- Earlier wording
- Earlier precursor: Ray Cummings, page 81
- Date
- 2004 exact wording · 2003 precursor
Documented wording history
Review the dated evidence behind the modern saying.
The external attribution review provides dated examples, page references and a chronology from the 1989 related wording through the later Roosevelt attribution.
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library: fake and inaccurate quotes ↗ Modern proverb definition ↗