Ready Reference Files

Behind Every Great Man...

The saying "Behind every great man is a great woman" has variations:

Behind every good man...
Behind every successful man..

The source is unknown. It does not appear in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 16th edition. It is listed in Dictionary of American Proverbs. The form given in the Dictionary is "Behind every great man, there is a great woman." The Dictionary used both oral sources and print sources. No written source is given for the saying. It is credited as an oral saying recorded by researchers in Mississippi. However, the introduction notes that a proverb recorded in one area of the United States may also have been used in other parts of the U.S.

Source: Mieder, Wolfgang, ed. Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press. 1992.

RAP 9/01

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