Rev. H. K. Williams

Writing in 1919 · Minister and religious-education writer, The Biblical World

H. K. Williams is not the author of this proverb so much as the first person known to have committed it to print. In January 1919 he wrote a piece called “The Group Plan” for The Biblical World, a University of Chicago journal, advising people who had to lead presentations for church groups — and closed with “Remember, if you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail.” Quote Investigator, which found the passage, notes he was probably quoting an adage already in the air, so the true originator remains unknown.

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1 quote we’ve traced

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”

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