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Who really said it

Things are more like they are now than they ever have been

Not Dwight D. Eisenhower — an anonymous 1948 joke Unknown humorist In print by 21 October 1948 · originator never identified
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

The earliest version Quote Investigator has located ↗ ran in a classified advertisement in the Amarillo Daily News on 21 October 1948, credited to nobody more specific than “some crazy guy.” Eisenhower’s name was first attached in Esquire in December 1969 — the year he died — and QI states it has found no instance of the line in his writings or in an interview.

Last verified 30 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Things are more like they are now than they ever have been” NOT Dwight D. Eisenhower. Quote Investigator's earliest located appearance is a classified advertisement in the Amarillo Daily News, 21 October 1948, where the line is ascribed only to "some crazy guy" — before Eisenhower took office in 1953. The first credit to Eisenhower is a December 1969 item in Esquire, the year he died; Quote Investigator reports no instance of the saying in his writings or in an interview. The line was later re-assigned to Gerald Ford, also without documentation. — Quotle.info

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Dwight D. Eisenhower. 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 themes of time and truth. Theme: "Things are more like they are now than they ever have been". 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 "Things are more like they are now than they ever have been". 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

Earliest known appearance
Amarillo Daily News
Date
21 October 1948, in a classified advertisement
Credited there to
“some crazy guy” — no name
In Eisenhower’s own record
Not found; QI reports no instance in his writings or in an interview

Things are more like they are right now than they ever have been. Amarillo Daily News, 21 October 1948

This is the wording of the earliest appearance Quote Investigator has located ↗, and it is not a presidential utterance — it is a joke dropped into a Texas real-estate classified, ascribed only to “some crazy guy.” The familiar modern forms (“…than they ever have been”, “…than they ever were before”) are later drift; QI notes the form of the expression evolved over the decades.

Quote Investigator: the full attribution trail

The paper trail

  • 1948, Amarillo. A classified advertisement in the Amarillo Daily News of 21 October carries the line, ascribed to “some crazy guy” — the earliest instance Quote Investigator has found ↗, and already in circulation before Eisenhower took office in 1953.
  • 1962–1966, anonymous. QI traces ↗ the saying through a Texas column by Cayce Moore, a March 1963 column by Rod Riggs in the Ames Daily Tribune with no attribution at all, an epigram collection crediting a fictional character, and a Minnesota paper crediting an unidentified Houston speaker. No president anywhere in it.
  • December 1969, Esquire. The first known credit to Eisenhower, in the year of his death: “Things are more like they are now,” Eisenhower once said, “than they ever were.” QI records it ↗ with no supporting evidence from Eisenhower’s own record.
  • Today, on Wikiquote. The line is absent from the curated Eisenhower page ↗ and instead sits in the talk page’s Unsourced list ↗, with no citation attached.

No copyright status can honestly be asserted here, because the wording has no identifiable author. The earliest known appearance — a classified advertisement in the Amarillo Daily News of 21 October 1948, documented by Quote Investigator ↗ — ascribes it only to “some crazy guy,” and no originating work, speech or author has been located. With no known first publication to point to, quotle.info makes no public-domain or in-copyright claim.

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.

Fact-check

Two presidents, no evidence

This is a textbook case of a joke shopping for a spokesman. The saying circulated anonymously for about two decades, then acquired a president, then acquired a second one when the first stopped being topical.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Undocumented

The line was already in print in 1948, before Eisenhower took office in 1953, and the earliest credit to him that Quote Investigator locates ↗ is a December 1969 item in Esquire — the year he died — reading: “Things are more like they are now,” Eisenhower once said, “than they ever were.” QI states it has found no direct evidence in Eisenhower’s writings or in an interview that he wrote or spoke the saying.

Gerald Ford Also undocumented

The earliest Ford credit QI records ↗ is a 1983 Connecticut newspaper, with New York magazine repeating the Ford version in 1986. QI finds no evidence that Ford said it either, and treats the switch as the same ascription being transmitted without skepticism.

Quotation anthologies and quote sites No source line

Whole Grains: A Book of Quotations printed it under his name in 1973 — “Things are more like they are now than they ever were before. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER” — and Robert Byrne’s 1982 collection did the same, per QI ↗. Aggregators still reproduce the attribution with no citation at all: The Quotations Page ↗ offers only “Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of US 1953-1961 (1890 - 1969)” and no source.

Nobody knows who first said it. The earliest appearance Quote Investigator has found ↗ credits only “some crazy guy” in a 1948 Amarillo newspaper advertisement — the presidential names were attached decades afterwards.

Context

Why a nonsense line needs a president

A tautology is only funny if someone solemn says it. On its own, “things are more like they are now than they ever have been” is a scrap of wordplay — the kind of thing that turns up in a joke column, a graffiti collection, or a real-estate ad trying to be charming. Attach it to a head of state and it becomes a punchline about how leaders talk, which is a far more portable joke. That is the engine that moved this line.

The paper trail Quote Investigator assembled ↗ shows it happening twice. For roughly two decades the saying circulated with no famous name on it at all — ascribed to “some crazy guy,” to a fictional character, to an unnamed speaker in Houston. Then it landed on Eisenhower, and once quotation anthologies printed it that way it stopped being checkable. In the 1980s the same line was handed to Gerald Ford, with no more evidence than the first time.

“Some crazy guy” is the only attribution the earliest known version carries.

The attribution drift, year by year

1948 — A classified advertisement in the Amarillo Daily News (21 October) prints “Things are more like they are right now than they ever have been,” ascribed to “some crazy guy” — the earliest appearance Quote Investigator has found ↗.

1962–1966 — QI tracks it through a Texas column by Cayce Moore (jokingly credited to a “Committee in Washington”), a March 1963 column by Rod Riggs in the Ames Daily Tribune with no attribution, a 1963 epigram collection crediting a fictional character, and a Minnesota paper crediting an unidentified speaker in Houston.

1969 — It appears in a University of Virginia graffiti collection under “Word Play.” In December, Esquire prints the first known credit to Eisenhower.

1971–1982 — The poet Howard Nemerov passes it on hedged (“President Eisenhower is reported to have said…”); Whole Grains: A Book of Quotations (1973) prints it flatly under his name; sports columnist Ira Berkow (1974) says Ike used it while president; Robert Byrne’s The 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (1982) credits Eisenhower.

1983–1986 — A Connecticut newspaper gives the line to Gerald Ford, and New York magazine repeats the Ford version. QI finds no evidence for either president.

Explore

Filed under

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

Time Truth

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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: Things Are More Like They Are Now Than They Have Ever Beenquoteinvestigator.com

The definitive investigation: the 1948 Amarillo classified ad, the anonymous 1960s circulation, the December 1969 Esquire credit to Eisenhower, the 1983 hand-off to Gerald Ford, and QI’s statement that it found no direct evidence in Eisenhower’s writings or interviews.
Talk:Dwight D. Eisenhower (Unsourced list)en.wikiquote.org

Where the line actually sits on Wikiquote — the talk page’s Unsourced holding area, as “Things are more like they are now than they ever were before,” with no citation attached.
Dwight D. Eisenhower — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote’s curated Eisenhower page, organised by dated speech and letter. The saying does not appear anywhere on it — a useful negative check against dozens of genuinely sourced lines.
Dwight D. Eisenhower documentspresidency.ucsb.edu

The American Presidency Project’s searchable archive of Eisenhower’s speeches, news conferences, messages, proclamations and executive orders — the place to test any claim that he said something as president.
Eisenhower Library online documentseisenhowerlibrary.gov

Digitised primary material from the Eisenhower Presidential Library (NARA), including his diaries, appointment books and the Farewell Address.
The 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (1982)archive.org

Internet Archive record for Robert Byrne’s 1982 collection — one of the anthologies Quote Investigator identifies as printing the line under Eisenhower’s name and hardening the misattribution.

About the man it’s pinned on

Who Eisenhower actually was

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1890–1969 · Supreme Allied Commander & 34th U.S. president

Dwight David Eisenhower (born October 14, 1890; died March 28, 1969) led the Allied Expeditionary Force in the Second World War, directing the campaigns in North Africa and Normandy, and rose to General of the Army. He then served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. His plainspoken, folksy public manner is almost certainly why this piece of circular nonsense drifted onto his name — but the line was already in print before he took office, and it appears nowhere in his documented record.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Best available

Quote Investigator, “Quote Origin: Things Are More Like They Are Now Than They Have Ever Been,” January 29, 2013, quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/29/like-ever/. Earliest appearance located there: classified advertisement, Amarillo Daily News, October 21, 1948, ascribing the line only to “some crazy guy.” No instance documented in Eisenhower’s writings, speeches, or interviews.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Things are more like they are now than they ever have been’?” Last verified 30 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-ever-have-been/

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