I'm a sucker for a great quote, and I wanted to give credit where credit is due. Imagine my surprise when I ran a Google search, and I found it credited to THREE different people!

656 results...out of the top 30, the attributions ran as follows: nine for Natalie Clifford Barney, 15 for Mason Cooley, three for James K. Glassman, and one with no attribution. Now I was really intrigued...and I wasn't familiar with any of the three. Time for a little web sleuthing...

Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972) was an American expat living in Paris (ok, she has my vote already). She was a poet, memoirist and epigrammatist. There a number of sites about her out there, and quite a few other quotes attributed to her, so it could very well be that she cooked up this gem.

I could find very little about Mason Cooley. The same brief bio appears everywhere...born 1927, U.S. aphorist. Aphorist...one who creates or repeats aphorisms. Aphorism...short, witty saying, usually making a general observation. Kind of sounds like the epigrammatist above, no? So Mr. Cooley is a likely candidate, but there is very little information about him anywhere.

James K. Glassman is very much alive...he's a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a columnist (former?) at the Washington Post. I'm inclined to think he quoted that quote, and perhaps did not give proper attribution. It's a great quote, but don't let people think you came up with it!

My vote is for Natalie Clifford Barney, although Mason Cooley is a likely candidate as well. I think we can eliminate Mr. Glassman. Whomever said it, it's a great quote, as I'll gladly acknowledge myself as both a trouble-maker AND an entrepreneur any day!

 quote, entrepreneur, trouble maker