“There’s a sucker born every minute” is a phrase erroneously attributed to what famous showman?
There's a sucker born every minute that there is no shortage of new victims, nor of con men, nor of honest men. In the 1930 John Dos Passos novel "The 42nd Parallel", the quotation is attributed to Mark Twain. There's a sucker born every minute "There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase closely associated with P. T. Barnum, an American showman of the mid-19th century, although there is no evidence that he actually said it. Early examples of its use are found among gamblers and confidence men. Barnum's biographer Arthur H. Saxon tried to track down when Barnum had uttered this phrase but was
There's a sucker born every minute the originator of the aphorism. According to the book "Gem of the Prairie: Chicago Underworld" (1940) by Herbert Asbury, McDonald was equipping his gambling house known as "The Store" when his partner expressed concern over the large number of roulette wheels and faro tables being installed and their ability to get enough players. McDonald then allegedly said, "Don't worry about that, there's a sucker born every minute." Early uses of the phrase refer to it as a catch-phrase among gamblers. In an 1879 discussion of gambling in Chicago, an "old-timer" is quoted as saying, “[G]oodness knows how they live, it’s