My brain must be calcifying or something: this is the second memory question I’ve asked in as many weeks. My late father used to repeat a quotation that went something like this: if everyone put their troubles in a pile and then could choose any troubles from that pile, most people would choose their own. It may have come from some poem, possibly British, as he majored in Brit Lit at Harvard, and they did a tremendous amount of memorization back in the day, but that’s just a WAG.
Does anybody know where this originated? I ran into the source once years ago but neglected to record it. I’ve tried Googling it, but as I only have a paraphrase, that’s not working.
If everyone could put their MEMORY capacity in a pile, I sure as hell wouldn’t choose mine.:smack:
I’m familiar with the quote too, but I can’t remember the exact source either. I’m pretty sure you’re right about it being British in origin, could it be from a Samuel Johnson quote?
Sorry I can’t be more help.
I always remember it being told as a Yiddish proverb. Whether that’s true of not, it sounds Yiddish and doesn’t sound British at all.
Oh, and the version I’m familiar with goes more like, “if everybody put their troubles in a pile and pulled out an equal share they would want their original troubles back,” which makes more sense as an admonition.
I stumbled onto this question through google and created an account just to answer it. The oldest use of this aphorism that I know of was by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. His book was an historical account of the wars between Persia and the Greek city states in his time with a number of moral lessons drawn from the tale, including that one. I don’t have my copy on hand any more, or I would find the exact passage, but I’m quite sure it was him. His wording, as best as I can remember it, went:
“If every man were to bring his troubles to the marketplace and assemble them all in a great pile, each man, upon seeing the rest, would be content to take his own and return home.”
This is the first I’ve heard of that specific quotation/saying but it makes me think of something I heard in 1967. The comedians Bob & Ray did some radio spots promoting the use of radio. My favorite of the group of maybe five or ten was, “If all the radios in the world were put in one place, they’d make a noise loud enough to be heard in Lima, Peru.”
The similarity of structure would make me suspect that one of those things influenced the other, and I would bet on Bob & Ray doing the borrowing. Now, who they borrowed from and how far before 1967 it would have originated is beyond my powers to guess.
Thank you!!!What a relief! I found the quotation based on your information: “But this I know: if all mankind were to take their troubles to market with the idea of exchanging them, anyone seeing what his neighbor’s troubles were like would be glad to go home with his own.”
— Herodotus (The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus)
