Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·334 of 348
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
They never said that.
What people say
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
What was actually said
"He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand." Elbert Hubbard — Elbert Hubbard, obituary for Marshall Pinckney Wilder (1915)
Why it stuck
Hubbard's original is a compliment to a small-statured vaudevillian who built a career on his condition. The cheerful imperative shape — and the "when life gives you…" opener — are 20th-century refactorings.
Dale Carnegie reshaped Hubbard's image into the imperative form in How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948).
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.