Daily Almanac for
Nov 11, 2009
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The Question:

What is the origin of the often quoted phrase "living well is the best revenge"? I cannot find it anywhere! Fitzgerald? Elliot? The Windsors? Hemingway? Mae West? This is SO often quoted, it should surely have been documented. Can you help?

The Answer:

Sure. The quote is by the English poet George Herbert (1593–1633), according to the latest edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

—The Editors

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