Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. I found this exact phrase scrawled in the margins of a secondhand economics textbook during my sophomore year of college. The previous owner pressed their pen so hard into the paper that the words practically carved a trench through the page. I felt completely overwhelmed by a massive tax law final at the time. Seeing that cynical, universally understood truth sitting right next to complex tax codes made me laugh out loud in the quiet library. Consequently, the quote stopped feeling like a tired cliché and suddenly felt like a secret joke shared across generations. This brief moment of connection sent me down a rabbit hole to uncover where this famous saying actually originated. Ultimately, the history of this phrase reveals a fascinating journey through centuries of literature. The Famous Misattribution Most people confidently attribute this famous quip to Benjamin Franklin. The American statesman certainly helped popularize the expression across the globe. He included the phrase in a private letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy. Franklin wrote this correspondence on November 13, 1789. During this period, the United States had just established its new Constitution. Therefore, Franklin felt deeply optimistic about the future of the young nation. However, he maintained his trademark pragmatic worldview regarding human institutions. [image: A candid close-up photograph of an elderly man in his seventies sitting at a worn wooden kitchen table, caught mid-thought with one weathered hand raised slightly as if making a quiet point during conversation, his expression calm and unsentimental — neither smiling nor frowning — eyes focused somewhere just off-camera with a look of measured, matter-of-fact acceptance. Natural window light falls across his face from the side, highlighting deep laugh lines and a faint furrow in his brow. A half-finished cup of coffee sits in front of him, slightly out of focus. The background is a modest, lived-in kitchen with no decorative flourishes. Shot with a 50mm lens at a slight angle, the image feels like a journalist quietly captured a moment of unguarded, pragmatic reflection.] He noted that the new American government looked exceptionally permanent. Yet, he immediately undercut that optimism with his famous observation about mortality and taxation. . His grandson eventually published his private correspondence in 1817. As a result, the reading public closely associated the saying with Franklin. Furthermore, his massive historical influence permanently cemented the quote in the American consciousness. The True Earliest Known Appearance Benjamin Franklin did not actually invent this clever saying. The phrase circulated in England many decades before Franklin penned his 1789 letter. Christopher Bullock claims the earliest verified printed use of the phrase. Bullock wrote a popular stage farce titled “The Cobler of Preston” in 1716. The comedic play featured a drunken cobbler named Toby Guzzle. [image: Close-up photograph of a worn leather cobbler’s last — a foot-shaped iron anvil tool — resting on a rough wooden workbench, its surface deeply scratched and darkened with age, patches of old leather scraps and dried wax scattered around it, natural light raking across the pitted metal surface from a nearby window, revealing every dent and oxidized groove, the texture of the iron contrasting sharply with the cracked grain of the workbench beneath it, shot with shallow depth of field so the background fades into warm amber blur, captured as if a prop master or antique collector photographed it for documentation.] During a chaotic comedic scene, Guzzle aggressively confronts another character. He loudly declares that humanity can only be sure of death and taxes. . Consequently, a relatively obscure English playwright beat the famous American Founding Father to the punch. Bullock likely drew inspiration from the daily grumbling of everyday working people. After all, British citizens faced remarkably heavy taxation during the early eighteenth century. Daniel Defoe and the Proverbial Shift Daniel Defoe also utilized the expression shortly after Bullock. The famous author of “Robinson Crusoe” published a political tract in 1717. He titled this lesser-known work “Fair Payment No Spunge.”
Defoe explicitly referred to the phrase as a common proverb among the people. Therefore, the saying clearly enjoyed widespread popularity among the general public by that specific time. Additionally, Defoe returned to this reliable idiom almost a decade later. Source He published “The Political History of the Devil” in 1726. In this text, he compared supernatural myths to undeniable earthly realities. He argued that people could firmly believe in things as certain as death and taxes. . Thus, Defoe played a crucial role in establishing the phrase as a permanent cultural fixture. How the Quote Evolved Over Time Other prominent writers quickly adopted the popular idiom for their own works. Edward Ward included a clever rhyming version of the phrase in 1724. He published a dumb farce titled “The Dancing Devils.” Ward wrote that human fortune remains entirely unpredictable. However, he concluded that death and taxes remain absolutely certain. This poetic structure helped make the phrase even more memorable. Meanwhile, Joseph Reed incorporated the saying into his 1769 comic opera. Reed titled his theatrical work “Tom Jones: A Comic Opera.” He placed the words in the mouth of a character named Mrs. Honour. She casually mentions that people can be sure of nothing else in this world. Furthermore, Thomas Bridges published a burlesque translation of Homer in 1770. Bridges translated “The Iliad” and included a line about nothing standing fixed except these two grim realities. Consequently, the phrase proved incredibly versatile across entirely different literary genres. Variations and Linguistic Shifts The grammatical structure of the quote occasionally shifted over the passing years. For example, “The Gentleman’s Magazine” of London published a unique variation in 1783. A reader sent a passionate letter to the editor regarding a new tax policy. The frustrated writer complained bitterly about a tax levied on deceased individuals. Consequently, the writer reversed the traditional order of the words. They stated that citizens could only depend on taxes and death.
This subtle reversal highlights the deep frustration citizens felt toward government overreach. The author essentially argued that taxation had become even more aggressive than mortality itself. Therefore, the idiom served as a powerful tool for political criticism. Writers could easily mold the proverb to fit their specific rhetorical needs. As a result, the core message survived while the exact wording evolved. Mark Twain and Famous Misattributions Mark Twain also frequently receives incorrect credit for originating the expression. Source The legendary American humorist definitely used the phrase during his career. Twain wrote a letter to his friend Frank Fuller in October 1884. He swore he would never change book publishers again. He emphasized his promise by comparing his certainty to death and taxes. . However, Twain merely borrowed a well-established idiom for his correspondence. He certainly did not invent the clever comparison. Twain possessed a massive reputation for producing brilliant quotes. Consequently, historians and fans often mistakenly attribute orphaned quotes to him. This phenomenon happens frequently with highly quotable historical figures. Ultimately, Twain simply recognized a fantastic piece of writing and applied it to his own life. The Historical Context of Taxation Understanding the eighteenth-century British economy helps explain the quote’s original birth. The British government constantly funded massive military campaigns during this turbulent era. As a result, officials implemented numerous creative taxation methods to raise revenue. They aggressively taxed windows, candles, salt, and even everyday soap. Therefore, everyday citizens felt the crushing weight of these relentless financial demands.
Citizens could not escape the reach of the royal tax collectors. Meanwhile, death also remained a highly visible part of daily urban life. Medical science offered very few solutions for common infectious diseases. Consequently, mortality rates stayed incredibly high across all social classes. These two unavoidable burdens naturally linked together in the public imagination. A frustrated taxpayer likely coined the phrase in a local pub. Eventually, observant playwrights like Christopher Bullock overheard the grumbling and wrote it down. Benjamin Franklin’s Life and Views We must still acknowledge Benjamin Franklin’s vital contribution to the quote’s legacy. Franklin spent his entire life navigating complex political and financial systems. He intimately understood the strict necessity of taxation for a functioning society. Furthermore, he faced his own looming mortality as he rapidly aged. Franklin was eighty-three years old when he wrote that famous 1789 letter. He suffered from severe, painful health issues at the time. Therefore, his written words carried the heavy weight of lived experience. He did not write the phrase as a cheap, throwaway joke. Instead, he offered a profound observation about human civilization. Governments rise and fall throughout human history. Constitutions change and adapt over vast periods of time. However, the fundamental biological and economic realities of human existence never actually change. Ultimately, Franklin provided the perfect philosophical context for a gritty street proverb. The Psychology Behind the Quote The psychological impact of this phrase deserves deeper examination. People naturally seek comfort in shared misery during difficult times. Taxes represent a complex, artificially created burden imposed by human society. In contrast, death represents a completely natural, biological inevitability. Combining these two vastly different concepts creates a fascinating cognitive dissonance. Therefore, the quote functions as a vital coping mechanism. It elevates a mundane administrative annoyance to the level of existential destiny. We feel slightly better about losing our hard-earned money when we frame it as an inescapable law of nature. Consequently, the phrase strips away our personal responsibility or failure regarding financial struggles. Everyone must pay, and everyone must eventually die. Thus, this shared universality provides strange comfort during stressful financial seasons. Why We Misattribute Quotes The persistent misattribution to Benjamin Franklin reveals an interesting quirk of human memory. Society strongly prefers to attach brilliant quotes to legendary historical figures. An anonymous eighteenth-century tavern patron lacks the cultural gravity of a Founding Father. Furthermore, Christopher Bullock remains largely forgotten by modern literary scholars. Therefore, our collective memory naturally reassigned the quote to a more prominent figure. Franklin already possessed a massive reputation for dispensing folksy wisdom and sharp proverbs. As a result, attributing this specific quote to him simply felt historically accurate. This process of retroactive attribution happens constantly throughout recorded history. Ultimately, the true origin matters less to the general public than the emotional truth of the words themselves. We assign great words to great people because it makes the narrative feel complete. The Philosophical Weight of Inevitability Philosophers have debated the concept of inevitability for thousands of years. Human beings possess a unique awareness of our own eventual demise. This constant awareness creates a low hum of background anxiety throughout our lives. Meanwhile, civilization requires structure and resources to function properly. Taxation represents the ultimate structural demand placed upon the individual by the collective. Therefore, the quote brilliantly connects our deepest existential fear with our most common daily annoyance. It perfectly balances the profound with the mundane. As a result, the phrase resonates on multiple psychological levels simultaneously. We laugh because the comparison seems slightly ridiculous at first glance. However, we keep repeating the quote because the underlying truth remains entirely unassailable. Cultural Impact and Modern Resonance Today, the phrase remains an absolute staple of modern communication. Politicians frequently use the quote during intense budget debates. Journalists regularly drop the idiom into articles about economic policy. Meanwhile, everyday people repeat the saying every single April during tax season. The quote perfectly captures our collective frustration with endless bureaucratic obligations. Additionally, the saying succeeds because it utilizes brilliant dark humor. It forces us to laugh at the inescapable nature of our societal obligations. We absolutely cannot avoid the final end of our lives. Similarly, we cannot avoid paying our financial dues to society. Therefore, we might as well joke about the grim situation. This enduring psychological appeal proves the sheer brilliance of the original anonymous creator. The Enduring Power of the Proverb In summary, Benjamin Franklin delivered the most famous historical delivery of this cynical truth. Mark Twain later added his own comedic endorsement to the enduring phrase. However, Christopher Bullock and Daniel Defoe truly introduced the idiom to the literary world. The quote survived for over three centuries because it tells the absolute truth. Humanity will always complain bitterly about paying taxes. Furthermore, humanity will always face the terrifying reality of mortality. As a result, this perfect piece of cynical wisdom will undoubtedly survive for another three hundred years. Language constantly evolves, but human nature remains remarkably consistent. Ultimately, we will always need a clever way to complain about the inevitable.