# Anyone ever hear this phrase: "If you mean to do a thing..." **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380 "2019-03-19T19:28:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/1 "2019-03-19T19:28:32Z")
Another thread asked about things your grandparents used to say. I only knew 1 of my grandparents - my mom’s dad, who died when I was 8. He used to say something that I remember as: _“If you mean to do a thing, and wish to do it really. Never let it be by halves, But do it fully, freely.”_ My sisters remember him saying the same thing - and probably my mom (also dead) saying her dad said it. Anyone ever hear this and have any idea where it is from? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/2 "2019-03-19T20:11:37Z")
If you to google this, the first line gets no hits. But if you do the final line, the results are the tits. ([Link](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&ei=80uRXM7sLpGgjwTOmoegBw&q=%22But+do+it+fully%2C+freely%22&oq=%22But+do+it+fully%2C+freely%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i160.9338.11895..12806...0.0..0.1102.1102.7-1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.BNMGW3v3Tck)) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/3 "2019-03-19T21:58:23Z")
To paraphrase the guy next door from _Office Space_,\* “Hell, no, Man! I believe I’d punch somebody in the mouth if they said that to me.”\* ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/4 "2019-03-19T22:27:51Z")
I’ve heard that. Don’t know where. Maybe I read it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/5 "2019-03-19T22:46:09Z")
The third line gives even more hits than the second, including an expanded (but unattributed) version [here](https://books.google.com/books?id=kCsEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA143&dq=%22Never+let+it+be+by+halves%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmhYCBn4_hAhUs_4MKHV3tCQEQ6AEILzAB#v=onepage&q=%22Never%20let%20it%20be%20by%20halves%22&f=false). [This one](https://books.google.com/books?id=dJoSwxyuJLwC&pg=PA55&dq=%22Never+let+it+be+by+halves%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmhYCBn4_hAhUs_4MKHV3tCQEQ6AEINDAC#v=onepage&q=%22Never%20let%20it%20be%20by%20halves%22&f=false) attributes it to [Phoebe Cary](https://www.poemhunter.com/phoebe-cary/poems/) and [this one](https://books.google.com/books?id=HPJRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA357&dq=%22Never+let+it+be+by+halves%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmhYCBn4_hAhUs_4MKHV3tCQEQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&q=%22Never%20let%20it%20be%20by%20halves%22&f=false) attributes it to her sister [DEL]Ursula[/DEL] [Alice Cary](https://www.poemhunter.com/alice-cary/poems/). The poem is _not_ in [the book of their collected poetry](https://archive.org/details/poemsaliceandph00bategoog/page/n5), so probably both attributions are wrong. (But nobody tell [this kid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9CC2LHbYCk) that.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/6 "2019-03-19T23:08:49Z")
Aaaand, there is a different book of their poetry [that does include it](https://books.google.com/books?id=rlohDydyNLoC&pg=PA419#v=onepage&q&f=false), attributed to Phoebe (though only the 8-line version, not the much longer one.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/7 "2019-03-19T23:16:59Z")
(Last one) it seems to be mainly published in religious training materials, including [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/YI/YI18710701-V19-13.pdf) 7th Day Advantist periodical from 1871, which includes the long version, unattributed. I’m thinking that the additional lines were added by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/8 "2019-03-20T00:09:18Z")
So is this just a rhyming version of “Any job worth doing, is worth doing well.”? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-hear-this-phrase-if-you-mean-to-do-a-thing/831380/9 "2019-03-20T00:22:30Z")
> [@pool](#): > > So is this just a rhyming version of “Any job worth doing, is worth doing well.”? More a version of “do what you are told, now, damnit!”