“5118. 'Tis the early Bird, that catches the Worm.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance (2000, Harvest House Publishers)
“5118. 'Tis the early Bird, that catches the Worm.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
Willie Nelson (1933) American country music singer-songwriter.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
Roosevelt to Henry M. Heymann (2 December 1919), as quoted in Roosevelt and Howe (1962), by Alfred B. Rollins, Jr., p. 153
1910s
“The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse who gets the cheese.”
Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author
Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress
Quoted by InStyle December 2008 http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/general/photos/0,,20219137_20240419_20541419,00.html
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist
Carl Linnaeus, Nemesis Divina (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996), ed. M. J. Petry.
Nemesis Divina (1734)
“We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glow-worm.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
As quoted by Violet Bonham-Carter in Winston Churchill as I Knew Him (1965), according to The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), Fred R. Shapiro, Yale University Press, p. 155 ISBN 0300107986
Post-war years (1945–1955)
Source: Never Give In!: The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches
“I know what I am to him. A butterfly he has always wanted to catch.”
John Fowles book The Collector
The Collector (1963)
Context: I know what I am to him. A butterfly he has always wanted to catch. I remember (the very first time I met him) G. P. saying that collectors were the worst animals of all. He meant art collectors, of course. I didn’t really understand, I thought he was just trying to shock Caroline — and me. But of course, he is right. They’re anti-life, anti-art, anti-everything.
John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887) American poet
"Early Rising"; compare: "The healthy-wealthy-wise affirm, That early birds obtain the worm — (The worm rose early too!)", Frederick Locker-Lampson.