The advice columnist “Dear Abby” (Abigail Van Buren) wrote in April 1966:
“There are two kinds of people in this world: the givers and the takers. (...) The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.”
The saying has been frequently reprinted, always without credit to “Dear Abby.” The saying has been printed on many posters, where it is frequently credited to American comedian and actor Danny Thomas (1912-1991) or his daughter, Marlo Thomas.
Wikipedia: Dear Abby
Dear Abby is the name of the advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name “Abigail Van Buren” and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name.
Google News Archive
23 April 1966, Owosso (MI) Argus-Press, “Dear Abby: Givers vs. Takers” by Abigail Van Buren, pg. 8, cols. 1-2:
DEAR FED UP: There are two kinds of people in this world: the givers and the takers. The credit customers (including your relatives) who spend their cash elsewhere are the takers. You may complain, but the next time someone is broke and needs groceries on credit, you won’t turn him down, because you are a “giver.” The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.
Google News Archive
26 August 1967, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, pg. 1, right masthead:
TODAY’S CHUCKLE
The world is composed of givers and takers. The takers may eat better, ut the givers usually sleep better.
Google Books
Speech Can Change Your Life
By Dorothy Sarnoff
New York, NY: Dell Pub.
1970
Pg. 317:
The world is composed of takers and givers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better. — BYRON FREDERICK in Ohio State Grange Monthly
Google News Archive
21 May 1975, The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), “Quotes,” pg. 4, col. 7:
The world is composed of givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.—Byron Frederick.
Google Books
14,000 Quips & Quotes:
For Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House
1990, ©1980
Pg. 106:
The world is composed of the takers and the givers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.
Google Books
Matters that Matter, Vol. I. :
400 Notable Quotables Guaranteed to Fertilize Your Mind and Cultivate Your Life
By Daniel Taddeo
Airleaf Publishing
2006
Pg. 349:
There are two kinds of people, the takers and the givers. The takers sometimes eat better, but the givers always sleep better.—Danny Thomas, St. Jude Children ‘s Research Hospital
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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