John Wesley, credit: Daniel X. O'Neil

"Do all the good you tin, by all the means you can, in all the ways you tin, in all the places you tin, at all the times you can, to all the people you lot can, as long as e'er yous tin can."

Wesley did not say this.

You may have seen this quote in a nice frame on the wall of a Methodist Church, or even published in a book, citing John Wesley as its author. (For example, it was cited in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.) Despite the persistence of the quote being attributed to John Wesley, you lot will not find in anywhere in his writing.

You tin can add together this quote to other quotes that are stubbornly connected to John Wesley despite the fact that there is no source that connects them to Wesley'southward pen. I have written about several other quotes misattributed to John Wesley:

"I set myself on fire and people come to picket me burn."

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, freedom; and, in all things, charity."

"Personal and social holiness"

"Holy conferencing"

"Be present at our tabular array, Lord…"

There are many things I have come to appreciate about twitter, only one of the things that I find the most frustrating is the persistence of misquotes of historical figures. And due to my own area of specialization, misquoting John Wesley gets to me the about. Wesley and others were frequently misquoted earlier social media, just with the advent of twitter misquoting Wesley seems to be more regular. Wesley said enough interesting, surprising, and even controversial things that we should not need to attribute things to him that he did not actually say. Historical accuracy matters.

Practise you want to know if Wesley did actually say something that is attributed to him? Check out Did Wesley Really Say That? (Here'south How to Find Out).

In any event, regarding this particular quote, in that location is no evidence that Wesley said this. We should stop saying that he did.

Kevin Thou. Watson teaches, writes, and preaches to empower community, discipleship, and stewardship of our heritage. Connect with Kevin. Get hereafter posts emailed to you. This post was updated on Apr 25, 2020.