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Who really said it

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever

Not Mahatma Gandhi — a schoolmaster's maxim in print before he was born St Edmund of Abingdon (traditionally) c. 1174–1240 · Oxford teacher & Archbishop of Canterbury
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

Gandhi cannot have originated this: the maxim was already in print in 1867 — two years before his birth — in Augusta Theodosia Drane’s Christian Schools and Scholars, which gives it as the favourite maxim of St Edmund of Abingdon (d. 1240) to his Oxford pupils, worded “Study as if you were to live for ever, live as if you were to die to-morrow.” The attribution to Edmund is a Victorian report of a medieval tradition rather than a documented medieval text, and the modern re-worded, clause-reversed version circulating under Gandhi’s name has no traced author at all.

Last verified 14 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” not Gandhi. Earliest documented as the maxim of St Edmund of Abingdon (c. 1174–1240) in [Augusta Theodosia Drane], Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. 2 (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1867), p. 147 — two years before Gandhi was born.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Mahatma Gandhi. 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 St Edmund of Abingdon — Oxford teacher & Archbishop of Canterbury. Theme: "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever". 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 "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever". 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

The earliest documented appearance

Work
Christian Schools and Scholars: or, Sketches of Education from the Christian Era to the Council of Trent, vol. II
Author
Augusta Theodosia Drane — published anonymously, “by the author of The Three Chancellors”
Published
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1867 — the maxim is on p. 147
Credited there to
St Edmund of Abingdon (d. 1240), as the maxim he gave his Oxford pupils

As soon as he had taken his master’s degree, he opened a school of his own, on the spot now occupied by St. Edmund’s Hall. The favourite maxim he was accustomed to give to his pupils, was this: ‘Study as if you were to live for ever, live as if you were to die to-morrow.’ …

Note the differences from the version that circulates under Gandhi’s name: the clauses run in the opposite order, and the verb is “Study,” not “Learn.” The page number was confirmed from the running head on the scanned leaf, which reads “Old Oxford. 147.”

Scanned first edition, 1867
Read the 1867 scan at the Internet Archive
Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. II (1867) — full scan at the Internet Archive

How we verified this

  • 1867 — the decisive date. The maxim is printed on p. 147 of Drane’s Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. II ↗, credited to St Edmund of Abingdon. Gandhi was born in 1869, so the line predates him by two years.
  • Flagged as a fake Gandhi quote. Gizmodo’s “7 Gandhi Quotes That Are Totally Fake” ↗ lists it, citing the 1867 printing and noting that later-19th-century books credit either the Catholic saint Edmund Rich (d. 1240) or a figure called Ansalus de Insulis.
  • Listed only as disputed. Wikiquote’s Mahatma Gandhi page ↗ carries this line in its Disputed section, not among his sourced quotes, and points to 19th-century attributions (Edmund Rich, Alain de Lille) rather than any Gandhi source. Quote Investigator has never published an investigation of it — so no specialist has endorsed the Gandhi credit.
  • The Isidore claim does not survive checking. The popular citation to the Etymologiae, Book III, ch. 24 fails: that book is on the quadrivium ↗ and ch. 24 concerns the name of astronomy.

The medieval maxim is ancient and the earliest documented English wording — Drane’s 1867 text ↗ — was published well before 1931 and is in the public domain in the United States. The exact sentence circulated under Gandhi’s name is a different thing: it reverses Drane’s clauses and swaps “Study” for “Learn,” and no author, translator or first printing for that specific rewording has been traced — so we assert no rights status for the popular wording itself.

Fact-check

How the credit went wrong

This is one of the most-shared “Gandhi” lines on the internet, and one of the easiest to disprove: the date alone settles it. Two rival origin stories also circulate, and one of them is demonstrably false.

Mahatma Gandhi most common

Gandhi was born in 1869. The maxim is already in print in 1867 ↗, which makes him impossible as its origin — a point also made in Gizmodo’s roundup of fake Gandhi quotes ↗. It is credited to him in no documented speech, book or letter, and Wikiquote’s Gandhi page ↗ lists it under Disputed — not among his sourced quotes — recording rival attributions to Isidore of Seville, Edmund Rich and Alain de Lille rather than any Gandhi source.

Isidore of Seville false citation

A widely-copied claim holds that “Disce tamquam semper victurus; vive tamquam cras moriturus” appears in Isidore’s Etymologiae, Book III, ch. 24. It does not. Book III covers the quadrivium ↗ — arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy — and ch. 24 is on the name of astronomy (De astronomiae nomine). The Latin words victurus and moriturus do not occur in the book at all.

Ansalus de Insulis 19th-century variant

Alongside Edmund Rich, some later-19th-century books credit a figure named Ansalus de Insulis, as Gizmodo notes ↗. The name looks like a garbling of Alanus de Insulis — Alain de Lille (c. 1128–1202/03) — to whom Wikiquote traces the aphorism ↗ via Samuel Smiles’s Duty (1881). We found no primary text in Alain’s own works carrying the maxim, so the chain still ends unverified — but the name is a corruption rather than an invention.

The earliest documented form is not Gandhi’s and not quite the famous sentence: “Study as if you were to live for ever, live as if you were to die to-morrow” ↗ — a maxim for Oxford students, printed in 1867 and credited to a 13th-century archbishop.

Context

A classroom motto, not a mahatma's aphorism

The line reads like advice to a student because that is what it was. Drane’s 1867 history of education sets it in a specific place: Edmund of Abingdon, newly a master of arts, opening “a school of his own, on the spot now occupied by St. Edmund’s Hall” — and handing his pupils a maxim balancing urgency against patience. Learning is a long game; life is not. Hold both at once.

Quite how Gandhi’s name became attached is untraced — and worth saying plainly rather than guessing. What is documented is that he is one of the internet’s most reliable magnets for unsourced uplift: Quote Investigator reached much the same verdict on “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” noting the Gandhi family believes it authentic while no example of his using it has ever been found ↗. A memorable thought plus a famous name is a stable compound, and it rarely needs a citation to travel.

Learning is a long game; life is not. Hold both at once.

What changed in the wording

1867 (documented): “Study as if you were to live for ever, live as if you were to die to-morrow.”

Modern (attributed to Gandhi): “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Two changes: the clauses are reversed, putting live first for punch, and “Study” softens to the broader “Learn.” Neither change can be pinned to a datable source, so the popular sentence is best described as an anonymous modern polish of an old maxim.

Explore

Filed under

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

Mortality Knowledge Purpose

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.

7 Gandhi Quotes That Are Totally Fakegizmodo.com

Matt Novak's debunk, which flags the 1867 pre-Gandhi printing and notes 19th-century books crediting Edmund Rich or Ansalus de Insulis.
Christian Schools and Scholars, vol. II (1867) — full scanarchive.org

The earliest documented appearance. The maxim is on p. 147, credited to St Edmund of Abingdon.
"An eye for an eye" — Quote Investigatorquoteinvestigator.com

QI on a neighbouring Gandhi attribution: no example of his using it has ever been discovered. Useful calibration on Gandhi as a quote magnet.
Mahatma Gandhi — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote's sourced, disputed and misattributed lists for Gandhi. This line appears under Disputed, with pointers to Isidore, Edmund Rich and Alain de Lille — never to a Gandhi source.
Edmund of Abingdonen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the man the maxim is traditionally credited to: c. 1174–1240, Oxford lecturer, Archbishop of Canterbury 1233–1240.
St Edmund of Abingdon — St Edmund Hall, Oxfordwww.seh.ox.ac.uk

Oxford's own account of Edmund's teaching career, including his reputed introduction of Aristotle. Notably, it does not repeat the maxim.

Traditionally credited

The man the maxim is traditionally credited to

St Edmund of Abingdon

c. 1174–1240 · Oxford teacher & Archbishop of Canterbury

Edmund of Abingdon (c. 1174–1240) was one of Oxford’s earliest masters of arts, lecturing on mathematics and dialectics, and was reputedly the first to teach Aristotle’s philosophy there. The site where he lived and taught later became St Edmund Hall, still part of the University of Oxford. He was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1233 and consecrated in April 1234, and was canonised soon after his death. The saying is credited to him as a classroom maxim — advice to students — which is exactly the register the line still carries today, long after Gandhi’s name was pinned to it.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented in

[Augusta Theodosia Drane], Christian Schools and Scholars: or, Sketches of Education from the Christian Era to the Council of Trent, 2 vols. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1867), 2:147. Earliest documented appearance located; published anonymously as "by the author of 'The Three Chancellors.'"

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever’?” Last verified 14 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/live-as-if-you-were-to-die-tomorrow-learn-as-if-you-were-to

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