Anyway...

What if you had written the words quoted here and then people began giving credit to someone else? What if you had written something that you were very proud of and someone else got the credit? It wouldn't feel very good, would it?

Mother Teresa, known and beloved the world over, has done many wonderful works. And said many wonderful things. But she did not write the words quoted here.

That honor goes to Kent M. Keith, who, as a 19-year-old Harvard student, who put together a leadership booklet for high school leaders. Who knows why it is attributed to Mother Teresa--maybe people would not pay it much attention if they knew it came from someone as-yet-unknown, Kent Keith? I mean, who can trust a person with two first names, right? And a 19-year-old kid, at that!

It is good advice to live by, no doubt about it. But let's give the credit where it is due.

There are reports that Mother Teresa these commandments on her bedroom wall and they were discovered after she died. According to the Kent M. Keith, the author of these commandments, she actually posted them on the wall in in her Calcutta children's home. So while Mother Teresa approved of and thought the commandments important, she did not author them.

While Kent M. Keith is probably a bit miffed at the credit going to Mother Teresa, he probably gives them...anyway.

You can read (and learn) more about how these quotes came to be written, and learn more about Kent Keith here: The origin of The Paradoxical Commandments

And the website devoted to all things Mother Teresa also debunks this meme (and other sayings falsely attributed to Mother Teresa: Quotes falsely attributed to Mother Teresa

And more from the Quote Investigator: Do Good Anyway


Blog posts © copyrighted 2015 Julie Patrick Clark