Quote Investigator finds the beginning/muddle/end joke in Lombardi’s 1909 sketch His Own Petard. The general rule about what a story should have is a later formulation; Peter De Vries and Philip Larkin also used the phrase.
“A Story Should Have a Beginning, a Muddle and an End” — C. E. Lombardi
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Quote Investigator finds the beginning/muddle/end joke in Lombardi’s 1909 sketch His Own Petard. The general rule about what a story should have is a later formulation; Peter De Vries and Philip Larkin also used the phrase. Read the source
Lombardi’s 1909 phrase is public domain, but this modern full-sentence formulation is not pinned to that text.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
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Lombardi wrote the early sketch in which characters discuss a musical comedy. Quote Investigator gives him tentative credit for the humorous phrase, not proof of the modern sentence.
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Cite this
The primary source (Chicago)
His Own Petard, The Yale Literary Magazine. 1909. Evidence and bibliographical details reproduced in the linked source; no independent access to an original edition is claimed unless stated.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘A Story Should Have a Beginning, a Muddle and an End’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/a-story-should-have-a-beginning-a-muddle-and-an-end/