Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
 
7 January 1853, Evening Star (Washington, DC), “Scissors and Paste,” pg. 3, col. 3:
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.
 
Google Books
August 1859, The R. I. Schoolmaster, pg. 249, col. 2:
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.
 
Google Books
October 1860, Frank Leslie’s Monthly, pg. 363, col. 1:
POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC
(...)
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about.
 
27 January 1868, Alexandria (VA) Gazette, pg. 4, col. 1:
POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC.—Below will be found a few selections from “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” the author of which is generally known to have been Benjamin Franklin:
(...)
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about.
 
Google Books
Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912
Volume 1
By Rev. Charles Frederic Goss
Chicago, IL: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
1912
Pg. 68:
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, write something worth reading; or do something worth writing,” was the ringing advice of Benjamin Franklin to his contemporaries.
 
Google Books
Dearborn Independent
Volume 27, Issues 1-26
1926
Pg. 116:
Elbert Hubbard’s recipe for fame was, ‘Do something worth writing about or write something worth reading.’
 
Google Books
The Speaker’s Quote Book:
Over 4,500 Illustrations and Quotations for All Occasions
By Roy B. Zuck
Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications
1997
Pg. 9:
If you want to be remembered after you’re dead, write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about.
—Benjamin Franklin
 
Google Books
The Historians of Ancient Rome:
An Anthology of the Major Writings
Edited by Ronald Mello
New York, NY: Routledge
1997
Pg. 388:
Letter 6,16: Pliny to Tacitus
(...)
Happy are they, in my opinion, to whom it is given either to do something worth writing about, or to write something worth reading; most happy, of course, those who do both.