Quotation - Today is the first day of the rest of your life - origin


The fall issue of RQ carried a request for the source of the quotation, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."  As several readers pointed out, the now defunct magazine Synergy carried this same query in the winter 1971 issue.  According to Carol Zajchowski, Bay Area Reference Center, the quote was carried on a Hallmark card which attributed it to "Dederich."  This turned out to be Charles Dederich, the founder of Synanon, which is located in San Francisco.  Ms. Zajchowski called Synanon and was informed that the line was used in a speech given by Mr. Dederich, which was taped about six years ago; later a play was written based on these words.  The tape is apparently available at the Synanon library.  As Ms. Zajchowski indicates, we have only Synanon's word for it.  Two other contributors have other ideas.  Carl Bowen Davis, Temple (Texas) High School, states that he has found novelist Thomas Wolfe cited with "unspecific credit" for the statement, but he has been unable to verify this.  Thomas C. Brownfield, director, Canal Fulton (Ohio) Public Library, says that it appears in Abbie Hoffman's Revolution for the Hell of It.  I was unable to locate a copy of this work in order to verify it.  Perhaps this only confuses the issue  The exchange would welcome further thoughts.  Among those who referred me to Dederich Were Erna Shipley, Lake Forest (Illinois) Library; Marilyn Lester, Southeast Community College, Milford, Nebraska; Joan K. Downing, Idaho State University; and Fred M. Hicks, Public Libraries of Saginow (Michigan).  Many Thanks.

 

Source:  Magazine article, magazine unknown