“I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education” is a popular education epigram from American playwright Wilson Mizner (1876-1933). The quotation has been cited in print since at least 1935. It’s not known when Mizner first said it.
Wikiquote: Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner (May 19, 1876 – April 3, 1933) was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912. He was manager and co-owner of The Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, California, and was affiliated with his brother, Addison Mizner, in a series of scams and picaresque misadventures that inspired Stephen Sondheim’s Bounce!.
Quotes
Epigrams
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Faith is a wonderful thing, but doubt gets you an education.
Quoted by Stuart B. McIver, Dreamers, Schemers and Scalawags, Pineapple Press, Sarasota, Florida, 1994. ISBN 1-56164-034-4.
18 March 1935, The Nashville Tennessean (Nashville, TN), “All in a Day” by Mark Hellinger, pg. 4, col. 4:
With Mr. Sullivan’s permission, I offer you herewith just a few of the many to be found in “The Fabulous Wilson Mizner.”
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“I respect faith—but doubt is what gets you an education.”
30 October 1937, The Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, NY), “Whoozit: At the Academy” by Don McCarthy, pg. 3, col. 5:
Faith is O. K., but doubt is what gets you an education.
30 November 1940, Binghamton (NY) Press, “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 15, col. 3:
Wilson Mizner’s: I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
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School and Education
Quote Lady
10/27/98
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I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.—Wilson Mizner
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Ask questions! “I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.” Wilson Mizner #SalesQuote
7:53 AM - 27 Mar 2017
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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