“You can’t get to the top by sitting on your bottom” is a jocular saying that has been cited in print since at least 1954. The authorship of the saying is unknown.
Google Books
Instructors Journal
United States. Air Training Command
Volume 5, Issue 1
1954
Pg. 40:
YOU CAN’T CET ON THE TOP BY SITTING ON YOUR BOTTOM.
31 July 1958, Kossuth County Advance (Algona, IA), pg. 7, col. 2 ad:
No man ever got to the top by sitting on his bottom all day.
(Ready-Mix Concrete and Lumber Co.—ed.)
4 August 1960, Bakersfield (CA) Californian, “Little Liz” comic strip, pg. 41, col. 2:
It’s amazing how many people who sit on the bottom all day would like to get to the top.
12 November 1972, News and Tribune (Jefferson City, MO), pg. 30, col. 7 classified ad:
YOU CAN’T HIT THE TOP!
By sitting on your bottom.
(Spalding Realty—ed.)
11 July 1974, Greeley (CO) Tribune, “Scram-lets Answers,” pg. 36, col. 6:
You cannot get to the top by sitting on your BOTTOM.
Google Books
The Comic Encyclopedia:
A library of the literature and history of humor containing thousands of gags, sayings, and stories
By Evan Esar
Garden City, NY: Doubleday
1978
Pg. 105:
You cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom.
Google Books
Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World
By Edythe Draper
Wheaton, L: Tyndale House
1992
Pg. ?:
You cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom.
Google Books
Or So I Say: Contentions & Confessions:
A Happenstance Book
By Robin Skelton
Victoria, BC: Ekstasis Editions Canada Ltd.
1995
Pg. 19:
You don’t get to the top by sitting on your bottom.
The Namibian
11.05.2009
Noteable Quotes
(...)
YOU cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom. – Unknown
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“Welcome to growing older. Where all the foods and drinks you’ve loved for years suddenly seem determined to destroy you” (4/17)
•“Date someone who drinks with you instead of complaining that you drink” (4/17)
•Entry in progress—BP18 (4/17)
•Entry in progress—BP17 (4/17)
•Entry in progress—BP16 (4/17)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik. These are the Cookies and Privacy Policies.