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Who really said it

Cleanliness is next to godliness

Not in the Bible — an 18th-century English proverb John Wesley (popularizer of a pre-existing saying) 1703–1791 · English cleric & founder of Methodism
Disputed Free to reuse

The line is not scripture — no verse of the Bible contains it. It is an English proverb of unknown authorship, documented in print by 1773 (Anselm Bayly’s biblical commentary) and popularized by the Methodist founder John Wesley, who in his sermon “On Dress” quoted it as a saying already in circulation: “Cleanliness is, indeed, next to godliness.”

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“Cleanliness is next to godliness” Cleanliness is next to godliness. — an English proverb, not from the Bible; documented in print by 1773 and popularized by John Wesley in his sermon "On Dress"

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Provenance

Where the proverb actually comes from

Popular claim
The Bible
Actually
An English proverb, author unknown
Earliest in print
Anselm Bayly, 1773
Sermon that made it famous
John Wesley, “On Dress”

Let it be observed, that slovenliness is no part of religion; that neither this, nor any text of Scripture, condemns neatness of apparel. Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. Cleanliness is, indeed, next to godliness.

Wesley’s own wording keeps the interjection “indeed,” and he frames the line as an existing saying — explicitly noting no text of Scripture demands it.

Word Histories: origin and early usage

How we verified this

  • Not in the Bible — no verse contains the phrase, as The Phrase Finder and other references confirm.
  • Earliest documented in print is Anselm Bayly’s 1773 commentary — “Cleanliness, it is rightly said, is next to godliness” — per Word Histories.
  • John Wesley quoted it in his sermon “On Dress” as “Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness,” collected in Wikiquote’s John Wesley page (Works, 1840 ed.).
Public domain

The proverb and both its earliest printed forms — Anselm Bayly’s 1773 commentary and John Wesley’s 18th-century sermon “On Dress” — were published well before 1931, so this wording is in the public domain in the United States.

Fact-check

Who really said it

Because it sounds scriptural and moralizing, the line is endlessly cited as a Bible verse. It is not — and even John Wesley, its most famous voice, was quoting someone else.

Scripture Not a verse

The phrase appears nowhere in the Bible; it is a post-biblical English proverb, as The Phrase Finder and Word Histories both note.

John Wesley Popularizer, not author

Wesley is routinely credited as the source, but in his sermon “On Dress” he quoted it as an existing saying (adding “indeed”), and it was already in print by 1773 — before that sermon — per Word Histories.

Francis Bacon Antecedent, different wording

Bacon’s Advancement of Learning (1605) voices the sentiment — “cleanness of body was ever esteemed to proceed from a due reverence to God” — but not this wording, per The Phrase Finder.

An anonymous English proverb, in print by 1773 and made famous by John Wesley — not a line of scripture, per Word Histories.

Context

Why it feels biblical

The proverb pairs physical washing with moral purity in a way that reads like scripture, which is exactly why it gets pinned on the Bible. But the pairing is a cultural inheritance, not a verse: Victorian Christian moralists loved it, and its cadence — “X is next to godliness” — sounds like a psalm.

Ironically, the man who made it famous was warning against reading too much religion into it. Wesley’s point in “On Dress” was that slovenliness is not a sin and neatness is not a scriptural command — cleanliness is merely ‘next to’ godliness, adjacent, not identical.

Not in scripture — a proverb Wesley quoted, not coined.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Character Simplicity

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Word Histories: cleanliness & godlinesswordhistories.net

Scholarly chronology; earliest attestation in Anselm Bayly (1773) and Wesley’s quotation of it.
The Phrase Finderphrases.org.uk

Meaning and origin; confirms it is not biblical and cites Bacon (1605) and Wesley.
Wikiquote: John Wesleyen.wikiquote.org

Sourced Wesley text from the sermon “On Dress” (Works, 1840 ed., Sermon 93).
Bible Study Tools: meaning & originbiblestudytools.com

Topical study confirming the phrase is not found in Scripture.
GotQuestions: is cleanliness next to godliness?gotquestions.org

Explains the phrase is extra-biblical and how it relates to biblical teaching.

Popularizer of the proverb

About John Wesley

John Wesley

1703–1791 · English cleric & founder of Methodism

John Wesley (1703–1791) was an Anglican cleric and the founder of the Methodist movement, a tireless preacher whose sermons and hymns shaped 18th-century evangelical Christianity. His sermon “On Dress” used the saying “Cleanliness is, indeed, next to godliness” — but he was quoting a proverb already in circulation, not coining it, and he pointedly noted that no text of Scripture makes neatness a religious duty. His fame is why the line is so often misremembered as his own, or as the Bible’s.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary & earliest sources

John Wesley, “On Dress,” in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., ed. John Emory (New York, 1840), 1:446; earliest documented attestation in Anselm Bayly (1773), per Word Histories.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness

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