Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·3 of 348
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
They never said that.
What people say
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
What was actually said
"A foole and his money be soone at debate." Thomas Tusser — Thomas Tusser, Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie (1573)
Why it stuck
Tusser's original is "at debate" — in dispute. The "soon parted" form arrives by 1587 in John Bridges and displaces the original inside a generation.
Often misattributed to Poor Richard's Almanack — Franklin uses no such line in surviving writing.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.