There is no record of Churchill ever writing or speaking this line; the International Churchill Society searched some 2.5 million words by and about him and found nothing. The earliest documented appearance is an unsigned filler couplet in the Altoona (PA) ‘Mirror’ on 13 December 1944 — no author named.
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give” — Unknown (anonymous)
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 Unknown (anonymous) — first documented 1944. Theme: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give". 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 "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give". 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 source
Earliest documented
Altoona (PA) ‘Mirror,’ 13 Dec 1944, ‘Mirrorgrams’ column
Popularly credited to
Winston Churchill (no basis)
Also miscredited to
Air Vice-Marshal Sir Norman MacEwen
True author
Unknown — an anonymous saying
You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.
↑ the 1944 original says ‘you’ and credits no one
The earliest traceable printing — an unsigned one-line filler in a 1944 small-town newspaper. It uses ‘you,’ not ‘we,’ and names no author. The polished ‘we’ wording and the Churchill byline both attach later, once the saying is already in circulation.
Etymology researcher Barry Popik ↗ dates the earliest known print to the Altoona ‘Mirror,’ 13 December 1944 — unsigned.
The rival credit to Norman MacEwen ↗ circulates widely online but rests on no cited primary source either.
This is a short aphorism of unknown, anonymous origin first seen in 1944; brief sayings like it are not protected by copyright, so it is free to quote. Just don’t credit it to Churchill.
Fact-check
Who it’s wrongly credited to
This is one of the most durable of the “Churchillian” fakes, but the internet can’t even agree on which wrong name to use — a telltale sign of an orphan saying that later got a famous face bolted on.
✕
Incorrectly attributed to Sir Winston Churchill
The International Churchill Society ↗ files it under falsely attributed quotes: “It’s a nice quote, but definitely not Winston Churchill,” noting it turns up in none of the ~2.5 million words by and about him (it was even used in a 2005 Lockheed Martin TV ad under his name).
✕
Also credited to Air Vice-Marshal Sir Norman MacEwen (1881–1953) common online
Quote sites pair it with “Happiness is not so much in having as sharing” and hang both on the RAF commander MacEwen, yet these listings ↗ give no book, date, or page — and the 1944 filler predates any such source.
✓The honest answer, per the documented citation trail ↗: an anonymous maxim in print by 1944, later dressed up in Churchill’s (or MacEwen’s) name. No evidence supports either man.
Context
Why the wrong name sticks
The saying works as a tidy chiasmus — ‘get’ against ‘give,’ ‘living’ against ‘life’ — the kind of balanced epigram people instinctively file under a great orator. Churchill is the default magnet for any unowned line that sounds wise and vaguely British, so an anonymous 1944 newspaper filler drifted, over decades, into his mouth.
The competing MacEwen credit is instructive: when a saying is genuinely orphaned, multiple plausible-sounding attributions bloom at once, none with a page or a date behind it. That disagreement is itself the fingerprint of a misattribution.
An orphan aphorism with a famous face bolted on — the name is decoration, not authorship.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
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The author
About Unknown (anonymous)
AN
Unknown (anonymous)
Origin unknown · first documented 1944
This line has no established author. Its earliest traceable appearance is an unsigned filler couplet in the Altoona (PA) ‘Mirror’ of 13 December 1944, and it recurs through the late 1940s and 1950s in newspaper columns and church bulletins — the natural habitat of a free-floating maxim. The famous names attached to it later (Churchill, then Norman MacEwen) are decorations added after the fact, not sources.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Earliest documented source
Earliest documented in “Mirrorgrams,” Altoona (PA) ‘Mirror,’ 13 December 1944, p. 8, col. 2 (unsigned); citation history compiled by Barry Popik, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give’?” Last verified 7 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/we-make-a-living-by-what-we-get-but-we-make-a-life-by-what