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Who really said it

Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end

Not Paulo Coelho — a misattributed folk saying Fernando Sabino (crediting his father, Domingos Sabino) Fernando Sabino, 1923–2004 · Brazilian writer · father Domingos Sabino credited as source
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

Paulo Coelho is a magnet for feel-good lines he never wrote, and this is one of them. According to Quote Investigator, the saying was pinned on Coelho only in 2015 — years after it was already circulating anonymously. The earliest documented version appears in Brazilian writer Fernando Sabino’s 1988 book O tabuleiro de damas, where Sabino credits the thought to his father, Domingos Sabino. QI names Domingos as the leading candidate while noting he may have been passing along an older adage.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end” Not Paulo Coelho. The line was first attributed to Coelho only in 2015; the earliest documented version is Fernando Sabino's 1988 book, crediting his father Domingos Sabino. — verified at Quotle.info

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Paulo Coelho. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

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In context

Evoking the world of Fernando Sabino — Brazilian novelist & journalist · credited the line to his father, Domingos. Theme: "Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

What the record shows

Popularly credited to
Paulo Coelho (from 2015)
Earliest documented
Fernando Sabino, O tabuleiro de damas
Date
1988 (Brazilian Portuguese)
Credited by Sabino to
Domingos Sabino (his father)

Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.

The popular English wording is an anonymous paraphrase; Sabino’s 1988 Portuguese line runs closer to “everything works out in the end — if it hasn’t worked out, it’s because it hasn’t reached the end yet.”

Quote Investigator: full chronology

How we verified this

  • 1988 — earliest documented version. Fernando Sabino’s O tabuleiro de damas gives the saying and credits his father, Domingos Sabino, per Quote Investigator.
  • 2011 — the line goes global. Dev Patel’s character recites a version in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which QI notes helped spread it as an “Indian saying.”
  • 2015 — Coelho enters the story. The line is first attributed to Paulo Coelho in Paul Smith’s book Parenting with a Story, according to Quote Investigator — well after it was already anonymous folk wisdom.
  • Also wrongly credited to John Lennon (2013) and Oscar Wilde (2017), a classic sign of a floating quotation with no fixed author (QI).

The exact English wording popularly attributed to Coelho is an anonymous paraphrase with no traced original publication, so no copyright status can be responsibly asserted. The earliest documented form is Fernando Sabino’s 1988 Portuguese text, which would itself be in copyright — but that is a different language and wording, not the line quoted here.

Fact-check

A quote with many false fathers

This is a floating folk saying that has been hung on a series of famous names. None of them wrote it.

Paulo Coelho Not the author

First tied to Coelho only in 2015, via Paul Smith’s Parenting with a Story — years after the line was already circulating anonymously. Quote Investigator finds no evidence Coelho originated it.

John Lennon Not the author

A 2013 attribution with no basis in Lennon’s writings or interviews, per QI.

Oscar Wilde Not the author

Credited to Wilde by 2017 — the default “famous wit” sink for orphan quotations, again with no source (QI).

The earliest documented version is Fernando Sabino’s 1988 book, which credits his father Domingos Sabino — and even QI allows Domingos may have been repeating an older adage (Quote Investigator).

Context

Why it floats

The saying’s appeal is exactly why it resists a single author: it is a compact, optimistic tautology that anyone can feel they ‘always knew.’ Once a line reads like folk wisdom, attribution becomes a marketing decision — and a globally famous, aphorism-friendly name like Paulo Coelho is the path of least resistance.

Its modern popularity owes less to any book than to the 2011 film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, where it lands as a warm mantra. From there it spread across social media, collecting famous signatures — Lennon, Wilde, Coelho — as it went.

A line that sounds like everyone’s wisdom ends up credited to whoever is most quotable.

Explore

Filed under

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

Hope Resilience

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.

Quote Origin: Everything Will Be OK in the Endquoteinvestigator.com

The definitive chronology: earliest 1988 Sabino version, and the later Lennon/Coelho/Wilde misattributions with dates.
Fernando Sabino (tag)quoteinvestigator.com

QI's index page for the Brazilian writer whose 1988 book carries the earliest documented version.
Paulo Coelho (tag)quoteinvestigator.com

QI's catalog of quotations wrongly pinned on Coelho, showing the pattern this quote fits.
Misattributed Coelho quote listinggoodreads.com

An example of the crowd-sourced Coelho attribution that QI shows is unsupported.

The earliest documented source

The writer who first put it on the page

Fernando Sabino

1923–2004 · Brazilian novelist & journalist · credited the line to his father, Domingos

Fernando Sabino was a Brazilian novelist, chronicler and journalist, best known for the 1965 novel O encontro marcado (“A Time to Meet”). In his 1988 book O tabuleiro de damas he set down a version of this saying and attributed it not to himself but to his father, Domingos Sabino — which is why Quote Investigator names Domingos, rather than Fernando or any of the famous later claimants, as the leading candidate for its origin.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented in Fernando Sabino (1988), via Quote Investigator

Fernando Sabino, O tabuleiro de damas (Rio de Janeiro, 1988), earliest documented version, crediting Domingos Sabino; per Garson O’Toole, “Everything Will Be OK in the End,” Quote Investigator, Jan. 1, 2023.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/everything-will-be-ok-in-the-end-if-its-not-ok-its-not-the

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