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Who really said it

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway

Not Mother Teresa — an anonymous coda on Kent Keith’s poem Kent M. Keith (poem) — the coda itself is anonymous Keith b. 1949 · American author of the “Paradoxical Commandments” (1968)
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

Mother Teresa did not write this line. It is a two-sentence coda grafted onto Kent M. Keith’s “Paradoxical Commandments” (written 1968) sometime between 1995 and 1999 — and per Quote Investigator and Keith’s own site, Keith says he did not write the coda and dislikes it. Mother Teresa merely had a version of the commandments posted on a wall of her children’s home in Calcutta, which is how her name became attached.

Last verified 8 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway” Not Mother Teresa. This is an anonymous coda (added c. 1995–1999) to Kent M. Keith's 1968 "Paradoxical Commandments"; Keith says he did not write these final lines.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Mother Teresa. 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.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Kent M. Keith — American author & speaker · wrote the "Paradoxical Commandments" in 1968. Theme: "In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway". 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 "In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway". 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

Where the line actually comes from

Underlying work
The Paradoxical Commandments
Poem written
1968, by Kent M. Keith (age 19)
This line (coda)
Anonymous addition, appeared 1995–1999
Misattribution source
Mother Teresa: A Simple Path (1995)

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. … Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway. the disputed coda

The closing two sentences (the “final analysis” coda) are the disputed line. They were not in Keith’s 1968 original and were added anonymously between 1995 and 1999.

Quote Investigator: Do Good Anyway

How we verified this

  • Quote Investigator traces the whole set to Kent M. Keith’s 1968 “Paradoxical Commandments” and notes “sometime between 1995 and 1999 a coda was added” — the very “final analysis” lines — in its study Do Good Anyway.
  • Keith’s own site, The Mother Teresa Connection, states the final “analysis” lines were added by someone else and that they “trouble” him.
  • Mother Teresa’s link is a wall sign reproduced in Lucinda Vardey’s 1995 book A Simple Path, which readers misread as her own authorship.

The underlying “Paradoxical Commandments” are Kent M. Keith’s 1968 work (in copyright), but this specific coda is an anonymous addition that appeared between 1995 and 1999 with no identifiable author, so no clear rights status can be asserted for the line itself.

Fact-check

How Mother Teresa got the credit

This is a textbook “magnet name” misattribution: an anonymous line attached to a poem that itself was never hers.

Mother Teresa misattributed

The ten “Paradoxical Commandments” were written by Kent M. Keith in 1968, long before any Calcutta connection. A version hung on a wall in her children’s home and was reproduced in Lucinda Vardey’s 1995 book A Simple Path under the heading “Anyway,” which readers mistook for her own words.

Nobody named anonymous coda

The “in the final analysis… between you and God” ending was not part of Keith’s original poem. Per Quote Investigator it was added anonymously between 1995 and 1999, and Keith himself disavows writing it.

The idea is Kent Keith’s poem; the specific line is an anonymous coda — and Keith says neither the coda nor the poem was authored by Mother Teresa.

Context

Why this one spread

The full poem — often retitled “Anyway” or “Do It Anyway” — became a viral inspirational text long before social media, precisely because it was believed to be Mother Teresa’s. The wall sign in Calcutta was real; what got lost was that the words on it were an American college student’s from 1968.

The closing couplet is the most-quoted fragment, yet it is the part that is least anyone’s: an unsigned coda that even Keith, the poem’s author, says he did not write and would not have written.

The sign was on her wall — the words were never her pen.

Explore

Filed under

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

Purpose Character

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 Investigator: Do Good Anywayquoteinvestigator.com

The authoritative investigation tracing the poem to Kent Keith (1968) and dating the “final analysis” coda to 1995–1999.
The Mother Teresa Connectionparadoxicalcommandments.com

Kent Keith’s own account: he did not write the final lines and explains the Calcutta wall-sign story.
Origin of the Paradoxical Commandmentsparadoxicalcommandments.com

Keith’s account of writing the ten commandments in 1968 for a student-leadership booklet.
Kent M. Keith (biography)en.wikipedia.org

Biographical facts: born 1949, wrote the commandments as a Harvard sophomore in 1968.
Paradoxical Commandments (author page)kentmkeith.com

The canonical ten-line text as written by Keith, without the disputed coda.

The real author of the poem

Kent M. Keith

Kent M. Keith

b. 1949 · American author & speaker · wrote the “Paradoxical Commandments” in 1968

Kent M. Keith wrote the ten “Paradoxical Commandments” in 1968 as a 19-year-old Harvard sophomore, publishing them in a booklet for student leaders titled The Silent Revolution. Decades later he learned a version had hung on a wall in one of Mother Teresa’s homes in Calcutta, and in 1997 he wrote the book Anyway expanding on the commandments. Keith has publicly stated that the popular “final analysis” ending was not written by him and troubles him because it can be read as justifying giving up on other people.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Quote Investigator

Garson O’Toole, “Do Good Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments,” Quote Investigator, May 18, 2012, quoteinvestigator.com. Underlying poem: Kent M. Keith, “The Paradoxical Commandments,” in The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Student Agencies, 1968); the “final analysis” coda is an anonymous later addition (c. 1995–1999).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/in-the-final-analysis-it-is-between-you-and-god-it-was

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