# "To do is to be"  quote

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 11, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940 "2017-03-11T16:42:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/1 "2017-03-11T16:42:54Z")

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There’s an [old joke](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22to+do+is+to+be%22&tbm=isch&imgil=BK4gX-Uwo2RjpM%253A%253B0LRoj6AP6tfz4M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.peacemonger.org%25252FEM264--To-do-is-to-be--To-be-is-to-do--Do-Be-Do-Be-Do--Magnet-9481_p_926.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=BK4gX-Uwo2RjpM%253A%252C0LRoj6AP6tfz4M%252C_&usg=__bt_PJjVNcCeLqbVfsilDDVpxxw0%3D&biw=1380&bih=659#imgrc=BK4gX-Uwo2RjpM:)that returns about 134 million hits on Google.

“To do is to be” - Nietzsche.  
“To be is to do” - Kant.  
“Do be do be do” - Sinatra.

The first two phrases are attributed to various other philosophers, including Socrates, Plato and Sartre.

Are they in fact genuine quotes at all? If so, who said them, and what do they mean?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/2 "2017-03-11T16:53:19Z")

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Here’s an [article](http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/16/do-be-do/) from Quote Investigator.

> [@](#):
>
> The earliest published description located by QI of a graffito that conformed to this template appeared in the “Dallas Morning News” of Dallas, Texas in January 1968. According to the columnist Paul Crume the graffito was created in an incremental process by three different people. The initiator was a local businessman in Richardson, Texas: 1
> 
> Bud Crew says that a month ago he wrote this on the warehouse wall at Bud’s Tool Cribs in Richardson: “‘The way to do is to be.’—Leo-tzu, Chinese philosopher.”
> 
> A few days later, a salesman wrote under that: “‘The way to be is to do.’—Dale Carnegie,”
> 
> Recently, says Crew, an anonymous sage has added still another axiom: “‘Do be, do be, do.’ — Frank Sinatra.”

After tracing it through many variations, their final conclusion was:

> [@](#):
>
> In conclusion, based on current evidence this family of multipart messages is traceable to a report from Texas in January 1968. The graffito evolved through replication and mutation. Individual lines were assigned to a wide variety of philosophers and thinkers. The attributions were primarily comical, and typically they did not correspond to actual quotations.

I recall seeing it in a bathroom in my college dorm sometime between 1970 and 1972.

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/3 "2017-03-11T17:33:24Z")

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Thanks for that.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/4 "2017-03-11T22:55:14Z")

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The version from the Unix fortune file is:

To be or not to be  
– Hamlet  
To be is to do  
– Hegel  
To do is to be  
– Marx  
Do be do be do  
– Sinatra

I remember seeing this in the late 70s.

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/5 "2017-03-11T23:27:58Z")

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Leo-tzu must’ve been Lao-tzu’s younger brother…

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/6 "2017-03-11T23:44:31Z")

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Tao

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**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-do-is-to-be-quote/781940/7 "2017-03-12T00:03:24Z")

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I’ve always heard the third line as:

“Yabba Dabba Do” - Fred Flintstone.