“Man doth not live by bread alone” and “Man shall not live by bread alone” are passages in the Bible. “Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter” means simply that something should go between the slices of bread. The saying has been improbably credited ot U.S. President James A. Garfield (1831-1881), but “peanut butter” didn’t exist during his lifetime. Comedian Bill Cosby has also been given credit; while he might have said it, he almost certainly didn’t coin it.
“Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter” has been cited in print since December 1964, when the Associated Press reported it on a sign in a St. Louis (MO) supermarket.
Answers.com
Proverbs: Man cannot live by bread alone
With allusion to two biblical passages (both AV): deuteronomy viii. 3 Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live; matthew iv. 4 Man shall not live by bread alone.
16 December 1964, Cumberland (MD) Evening Times, “Something Extra,” pg. 10, col. 3:
ST. LOUIS, MO. (AP)—A sign in a local supermarket proclaims: “man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter, 79 cents a jar.”
Google Books
Pacific Oil World
Volume 59
Petroleum Publishers
1966
Pg. 28:
In supermarket: “Man cannot live by bread alone — he must have peanut butter. Only 79c a jar.”
Google Books
PTM
Volume 70
Piano Trade Publishing
1973
Pg. 25:
Remember, as the comedian Brother Dave Gardner put it, “Man cannot live by bread alone — he must have peanut butter!”
12 March 1990, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, pg. 1F:
Bill Cosby sums it up this way: ‘‘Man cannot live by bread alone. He must have peanut butter.’‘
Google Books
Ice Cream!:
Delicious ice creams for all occasions
By Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson
London: New Holland
2005
Pg. 132:
The American actor Bill Cosby once said ‘man cannot live by bread alone, he must have peanut butter’.
Google Books
If ignorance is bliss, why aren’t there more happy people?:
Smart quotes for dumb times
By John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
New York, NY: Harmony Books
2008
Pg. 116:
Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter.
JAMES A. GARFIELD
Naturally D’Lish
Monday, February 15, 2010
“Man Cannot Live By Bread Alone…”
“He Must Also Have Peanut Butter.” ~President James A. Garfield
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.
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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.
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