“Americanism: Using money you haven’t earned to buy things you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.”
Paragraphs by Robert Quillen, Detroit Free Press, 4 June 1928. (via Newspapers.com)
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Robert Quillen 4
American journalist 1887–1948Related quotes
Cf. LOOK Magazine 1957: Actor Walter Slezak's version of "keeping up with the Joneses": "Spending money you don't have for things you don't need to impress people you don't like." p. 10 books.google http://books.google.com/books?id=-NERAQAAMAAJ&q=slezak.
Misattributed
“Spending money you don't have for things you don't need to impress people you don't like.”
Quoted as "Actor Walter Slezak's version of "keeping up with the Joneses"": in LOOK magazine, Vol. 21 number 14 (July 9, 1957) p. 10 http://books.google.com/books?id=-NERAQAAMAAJ&q=%22impress+people%22, in LOOK's permanent category of quotes "WHAT THEY ARE SAYING".
Already in 1905 W.T. O'Connor had stated that advertising was "The gentle art of persuading the public to believe that they want something they don't need" in "Advertising Definitions", in Ad Sense, Vol. 19, No. 2 (August 1905), p. 121 http://books.google.com/books?id=zPRKAAAAYAAJ&q=%22W.+T.+O%27CONNOR%22, and in 1931 one finds Will Rogers being quoted with advertising "as something that makes you spend money you haven't got for things you don't want." But this complete statement with the finale "to impress people you don't like" seems to have originated with Slezak. However, Quote Investigator https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/04/21/impress/ instead traces the quotation back to American humorist Robert Quillen, who wrote in 1928: "Americanism: Using money you haven't earned to buy things you don't need to impress people you don't like."
“We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.”
Source: The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
Source: The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of Americas Wealthy
Time Management (2007)
Context: General Advice: Never break a promise, but re-negotiate them if need be. If you haven’t got time to do it right, you don’t have time to do it wrong. Recognize that most things are pass/fail. Feedback loops: ask in confidence.
Online tweet, in response to an extremely depressed person contemplating https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/595148783056527360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etonline.com%2Fnews%2F163965_jk_rowling_sends_beautiful_message_to_fan_who_wants_to_finally_give_up%2F suicide, as quoted in "J.K. Rowling Sends Beautiful Message to Fan Who Wants to 'Finally Give Up'" by Alex Ungerman ET Online (5 May 2015) http://www.etonline.com/news/163965_jk_rowling_sends_beautiful_message_to_fan_who_wants_to_finally_give_up/
2010s
"Olympic boxer Marlen Esparza is ready to fight animal cruelty" http://nbclatino.com/2013/01/29/olympic-boxer-marlen-esparza-is-ready-to-fight-animal-cruelty/, NBCLatino.com (29 January 2013).