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The meaning and origin of the expression: A place for everything and everything in its place

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A place for everything and everything in its place


The notion that everything should have a place to be stored and that it should be tidily returned there when not in use.


This proverb is variously associated with Samuel Smiles, Mrs Isabella Beeton and Benjamin Franklin. The Oxford Book of Quotations dates it from the 17th century. Such a reference is usually accurate, although the authors supply no evidence for their assertion. If correct, it would pre-date all of the above notables.

If it is indeed that old, it has made herioc efforts to keep itself out of print. I can't find any printed citations that date from before the late 18th century, when it appears in a story published by the Religious Tract Society in 1799 - The Naughty Girl Won:

Before, however, Lucy had been an hour in the house she had contrived a place for everything and put everything in its place.

Several other early citations are from nautical contexts, which isn't surprising considering the need to conserve space and promote tidiness aboard ship. Here's an example from Frederick Marryat's Masterman Ready; or the Wreck of the Pacific, 1842:

"In a well-conducted man-of-war every thing is in its place, and there is a place for every thing."

Slightly earlier, a modified version of the phrase was in use in the USA. This is from an item headed 'Brother Jonathan's Wife's Advice to her Daughter on her Marriage', in the Hagerstown Mail, Maryland, January 1841:

"A place for everything and everything in time are good family mottos."

The phrase is typical of the uplifting homilies that were promoted during the Victorian era (beginning 1837), e.g. 'cleanliness is next to godliness' (circa 1880s).

See also: the List of Proverbs.