“You wouldn’t worry about what people may think of you if you could know how seldom they do” is a popular quotation that has been credited to many people. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) is frequently credited, but there’s no evidence that she said it.
 
Newspaper columnist Walter Winchell wrote in January 1937:
 
“Olin Miller’s thought should comfort the victims of self-pity, etc. ... ‘You probably,’ he submits, ‘wouldn’t worry about what other people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.’”
 
Olin Miller (1894-1981) wrote for a newspaper in Thomaston, Georgia. His syndicated daily feature entitled “Dixie Dewdrops” appeared in many other newspapers, and his lines were frequently quoted by others. It’s likely that Miller first came up with the saying.
 
 
8 January 1937, Evansville (IN) Courier, “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 8, col. 3:
Olin Miller’s thought should comfort the victims of self-pity, etc. ... “You probably,” he submits, “wouldn’t worry about what other people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.”
 
27 December 1938, Evening World-Herald (Omaha, NE), pg. 14, col. 2:
You wouldn’t worry about what people may think of you if you could know how seldom they do.
 
Google News Archive
11 February 1939, The Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, FL), “Free Speeches” by Lee Morris,‎ pg. 2, col. 3:
Today’s best: You wouldn’t worry about what people may think of you if you could know how seldom they do. — St. Louis Star-Times.
 
Google News Archive
9 July 1940, Portsmouth (OH) Times, “Pete Minego’s Sports Gossip,” pg. 10, col. 4:
We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we know how seldom they do.
   
Google Books
The Winter of Our Discontent
By John Steinbeck
New York, NY: Viking Press
1941
Pg. 213:
“Ye wouldna be sae worrit wi’ what folk think about ye if ye kenned how seldom they do.”
   
Google News Archive 
16 March 1953, Toledo (OH) Blade, pg. 17 (right masthead):
Today’s CHUCKLE   
People wouldn’t worry much about what others think of them if they’d realize how seldom they do.
   
,a href=“http://www.topix.com/forum/city/bainbridge-ga/T9BKJU6B42LK2F68N”>topix (Bainbridge, GA)
Jul 19, 2010 | Posted by:  SeminoleJack
Ponder this…
“We probably wouldn’t worry about what other people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.” - Olin Miller
(...)
David Martin
May 5, 2012
Olin Miller was an American syndicated newspaper humorist. Here is the AP wire story of his death:
++++++++++
July 13, 1981
THOMASTON, Ga.(AP)- Olin Pearse Miller, Sr., author of “Piney Woods Pete,” a homespun commentary on the news, died Saturday. He was 87.
 
From 1932 until he retired in 1974, Mr. Miller also wrote a syndicated daily feature entitled “Dixie Dewdrops.” It ran in 138 newspapers at the time of his retirement.
 
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Wise Quotes
‏@wisequotesnet  
You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do. - Eleanor Roosevelt http://bit.ly/y2Wi7S
1:23 AM - 1 Sep 13
 
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Sandra Barckholtz
‏@TheFitRealtor  
“You’ll care much less what people think of you when you realize how seldom they do” - Oscar Wilde
1:03 AM - 1 Sep 13
 
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Paul Dormody‏
@friesianknights  
We wouldn’t worry nearly as much about what others thought of us if we recognize how seldom they do. ~ Paulo Coelho
7:34 PM - 1 Sep 13
 
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Bob Cristello‏
@tweetclean  
#quote We probably wouldnt worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do. ~Olin Miller
8:10 PM - 1 Sep 13