Quotations and Literature Forum

Help, I need to cite this and I'm looking for the origination.

"There, but for the grace of God, go I"

It mostly gets attributed to John Bradford....

"But for the grace of God there goes John Bradford."
~John Bradford (1510-1555) English reformer, seeing criminals taken to execution.
He was burned at the stake at Smithfield, a Protestant martyr.
(Quoted in Dictionary of National Biography according to Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 1953)
http://www.weeks-g.dircon.co.uk/these_y ... t_on_a.htm

The quiz on this webpage attributes it thusly, but I've never been able to verify it:

Q. Who is credited with having exclaimed, "There, but for the grace of God go I"?
A. St. Philip Neri
http://www.envoymagazine.com/backissues ... ition.html

John Bradford is also given credit for this in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and The Dictionary of Cliches, although the former says it is "usually traced back to" Bradford, so it may predate him.

_________________
Michael Moncur
Owner and maintainer, The Quotations Page

Most likely.
This article also cites St. Philip Neri:

Jesus said, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation." We must be vigilant and pray for ourselves and others that we also not become victims of the devil "who goes about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour" as St. Peter writes in Sacred Scripture. By the grace of God we have not fallen victim but as St. Philip Neri used to often say in all truth and humility, "There but for the grace of God go I."
http://www.fatima.org/library/cr45pg4.html


St. Philip Romolo Neri
Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595