Who said it?

I love the internet.  It’s the only place where you can chase down an argument that happened months or years ago without your knowledge and live it like it’s brand new.

I was digging around for a quote this morning on writing.  I came across this one.

Then I decided to search the quote and make sure it really came from Richard Bach.

I found this.

http://richardbach.com/famous-quotes-i-didnt-write/

In the article, Richard Bach claims he didn’t write the quote.  He says he has used the quote before in his talks but always credits it to someone else.  He asked readers to help him identify the source of the quote.

My favorite part comes in the first comment.

A reader informed him “So how did your name get attached to it? In A Gift of Wings you wrote, “An old maxim says a professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.””

Meaning this crazy story is solved.  Richard Bach may not have said it first, but he did write it in the way we use it today.  He’s also admitted to using it in talks.  Pretty easy to see how this one came to be credited to him.

I’ll give it to him.

If you’re interested the original quote, “The only difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer is that the published writer didn’t give up” is credited to Elaine Fantle Shimberg.