Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet and politician who, with Richard Steele, founded The Spectator in 1711 — one of the most influential periodicals in English literary history. The earliest documented version of this saying appears in his 1711 essay, though he phrased it as “a clock that stands still is sure to point right once in twelve hours.” The line functions as an anonymous English proverb: many later writers — including Paulo Coelho — quoted it, but none, Addison included, can be shown to have invented the exact modern wording.