I of the most enduring misattributions of a piece of work to Emerson is that of an inspirational prose passage called "Success" that appears, most often assigned to Emerson if to anyone, on many Web pages. It goes

To laugh often and honey much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of simulated friends; to appreciate beauty; to discover the best in others; to requite of one'due south self; to leave the earth a flake improve, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to accept played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because y'all have lived—this is to have succeeded.1

Equally Joel Myerson demonstrates in "Emerson's 'Success'—Actually, information technology is not," Emerson Society Papers, 11, no. 1 (Jump 2000): 1, eight, this is not a work by Emerson.

In her 17 November 1990 column, "Honey Abby" (Abigail Van Buren) answered a reader's question "How would y'all ascertain success?" with the quote from "my favorite American poet, essayist and philosopher" printed above. Yet, on 1 Feb 1992, a chastened Abby printed a letter from Arthur Stanley Harvey, who wrote that the quotation was based on something his grandmother, Bessie Anderson Stanley, had written in 1904, and that had been appropriated for many years by greeting carte du jour companies, including Authentication, which had "erroneously credited Robert Louis Stevenson as the writer." Abby and then apologized, and printed what she described equally the original from the 1904 Brown Book Magazine:

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the honey of lilliputian children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found information technology, whether an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has ever looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.

But more enquiry shows another source. In the September 1904, Joe Mitchell Chapple, publisher of the Boston National Magazine, announced he would give $10,000 for "Heart Throbs," which he divers as "those things that brand u.s.a. all kin; those things that suffer—the classics of our own lives." The people who sent in the ten best contributions would receive a pile of silver dollars, "ane silvery dollar placed flat upon the other," as "volition mensurate your exact elevation"; other major winners would receive twenty-five, ten, or v dollars; and five hundred lucky people (out of a total of 840 winners) would receive a dollar each. The results from this contest were published in a book, appropriately titled Center Throbs, but it contained cypher past Stanley.2 Due to the success of this volume, a second volume of Heart Throbs was published in 1911, "Contributed by the People," co-ordinate to the championship page. Unlike the showtime volume, this one contained "the voluntary contribution of thousands," including, on the very start page, "What is Success?" by "Bessie A. Stanley." Significantly, Emerson's "Skilful-Bye" is also included (p. 7-8). The proximity of Stanley's work to Emerson's suggests that someone might have fabricated the initial misattribution by copying Stanley's work, so returning to seek the author and mistakenly using Emerson's name from three leaves later; Stanley'south proper noun appears on the third line of a verso page, Emerson's on the fifth of a verso page, making such an eyeskip possible.3

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NOTES

i. A popular variation of this reads "To live well, to laugh often, to love much, to proceeds the respect of intelligent people, to win the love of little children. To fill one's niche and reach one'due south task, to go out the globe ameliorate than one finds information technology whether by an improved bloom, a perfect poem or another life ennobled. to never lack appreciation of earth'due south beauty or neglect to express it, to e'er look for the best in others, to give the best one has. To make one'southward life an inspiration and one's memory a benediction. This is success."

2. Heart Throbs, [ed. Joseph Mitchell Chapple] (Boston: Chapple Publishing Company, 1905), pp. v-vi.

three. Heart Throbs, Volume Ii, [ed. Joseph Mitchell Chapple] (Boston: Chapple Publishing Company, 1911), pp. two, 1-2. Surprisingly, "What is Success" is attributed to "Anon." in the index.
The text of "What is Success?' differs in wording from that published past "Dear Abby" as follows:

He . . . much; ['who has enjoyed the trust of pure women' non nowadays; 'who has gained' present] the respect . . . task ['who has left the world better than he found it' not nowadays], whether ['past' present] an improved . . soul; ['who has never lacked appreciation of globe's beauty, or failed to express it' present] who has always . . given ['them' non nowadays] the all-time . . . inspiration; ['and' nowadays] whose memory a benediction.

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