What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well as you, do not write it.

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897)

Genuine

Yes. In Fruits of the Earth (1897), Envoi (the closing address), Les Nourritures terrestres (1897).

Found word for word by program in the French original.

The English is our own translation, not yet reviewed: there is no public-domain translation of this text in our sources.

Checked against André Gide, Les Nourritures terrestres (first published Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1897; read in the Nouvelle Revue Française / Gallimard edition of 1921, University of Toronto copy), Envoi, pp. 183–184 of the 1921 NRF edition (these sentences on p. 184), in the text of a page scan, not the image.

Work
Fruits of the Earth (Les Nourritures terrestres), 1897
Where
Envoi (the closing address), Les Nourritures terrestres (1897)
Found at
Paragraph 1174 of the French text
Translation
Our own, not yet reviewed (no public-domain translation in our sources)
Source
André Gide, Les Nourritures terrestres (first published Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1897; read in the Nouvelle Revue Française / Gallimard edition of 1921, University of Toronto copy), Envoi, pp. 183–184 of the 1921 NRF edition (these sentences on p. 184)
Checked
In the text of a page scan, not the image

Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check

On the page

¶1171 fr

↑ Ce fragment a paru déjà dans l’Ermitage (n de janvier 96).

¶1174 fr

qu’une des mille postures possibles en face de la vie. Cherche la tienne. Ce qu’un autre aurait aussi bien fait que toi, ne le fais pas. Ce qu’un autre aurait aussi bien dit que toi, ne le dis pas, — aussi bien écrit que toi, ne l’écris pas. Ne t’attache en toi qu’à ce que tu sens qui n’est nulle part ailleurs qu’en toi-même, et crée de toi, impatiemment ou patiemment, ah ! le plus irremplaçable des êtres.

our translation
English, our own translation (not yet reviewed)

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well as you, do not write it. Cling in yourself only to what you feel to be nowhere else than in yourself, and out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently, ah! the most irreplaceable of beings.

The scene

The last page of Fruits of the Earth. The narrator, who has spent the book urging Nathanaël to desire and to feel, turns on his own book: ‘Nathanaël, throw my book away. Free yourself from it. Leave me.’ He says he never wanted a disciple like himself, and that no one else can find Nathanaël’s truth for him. These lines are the rule he leaves: do not do, say or write what someone else could do as well.

What it means

Spend yourself only on what is yours alone. The speaker, a teacher at the point of dismissing his pupil, says that following him means leaving him.

Often misread

Taken as advice to be ‘original’ for its own sake or as a slogan of self-expression. In the book it ends a long lesson in desire and sets the pupil free of the teacher: the instruction to throw the book away comes just before it.

Topics

Life, Freedom, Soul, Wisdom, Self-knowledge, Art, Education

Related quotes

Sources

Cite it

André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Envoi (the closing address), Les Nourritures terrestres (1897), our own translation. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/do-not-do-what-another-would-have-done/ (31 October 2026).

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Checked by people

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