You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

~~Mae West~~ Joe E. Lewis

Misattributed

No. Joe E. Lewis wrote it, not West.

Researched by AI. Entry updated 21 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check

About this quote

Where it comes from

Quote Investigator (article ‘You Only Live Once – YOLO’, 2012, updated 2025) traces the plain saying ‘we/you only live once’ to the 18th and 19th centuries, with an exact ‘You only live once’ in an 1896 English translation of Balzac, spoken by the character Madame Cibot. The extended form with ‘once is enough’ first appears in its citations in Hedda Hopper’s column ‘Looking at Hollywood’, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 31 May 1952, p. 12: ‘Joe E. Lewis, who opens at the Mocambo June 3, says, “You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.”’ Ed Sullivan opened his series ‘My Story’ in Collier’s, 14 September 1956, p. 19, with ‘You only live once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough,’ credited to Joe E. Lewis. In an Associated Press interview by James Bacon on his fiftieth birthday (St. Joseph News-Press, 12 December 1965), Frank Sinatra said ‘You only live once and the way I live, once is enough’ and added ‘I stole that from Joe E. Lewis.’ The current wording, ‘if you do it right’, is in QI’s citations only as a Pennsylvania high-school class motto in 2011 (The York Dispatch, 11 June 2011), with no name attached. QI cites no Mae West source, and Wikiquote lists the line under Mae West’s Misattributed, noting that the attribution to her comes from social media. When the line was first credited to West could not be established here (Google Books and archive.org full-text searches were attempted; the Google Books API was rate-limited). Joe E. Lewis is the earliest person the saying is credited to; whether he coined the ‘once is enough’ twist or picked it up is not known. The newspaper and magazine dates and wordings were checked in QI’s article, not against the scans themselves.

In context

One of the most liked quotes on Goodreads, credited there to Mae West with no work or date, and repeated under her name by quotation sites and popular articles. No source in her plays, films, books or interviews has been found. The documented early forms are a nightclub comedian’s gag: in 1952 Hedda Hopper’s syndicated column credited it to Joe E. Lewis, and later uses by Ed Sullivan (1956) and Frank Sinatra (1965) name him too.

What it says

A joke on the old saying ‘you only live once’: instead of urging you to hurry and grab what you can, it says that a life lived fully leaves nothing to want a second time. In Lewis’s and Sinatra’s mouths the twist was also a boast about hard living.

Often misread

Quoted as Mae West’s credo, which suits her wisecracking persona but has no source. It is also often read as earnest life advice (‘do it right’); the early forms were a comic’s quip about living fast (‘work it right’, ‘play your cards right’, ‘the way I live’).

Use with care

Not Mae West’s: no source in her work has been found. If you use it, credit the comedian Joe E. Lewis, to whom it was attributed from 1952, or leave it unattributed.

Also shared as

The form on posters and social mediaYou only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. The Goodreads form, credited to Mae West with no source (119,807 likes on 21 October 2026). ‘Do it right’ replaces the earlier ‘work it right’. Where it was seen
A misquotationYou only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough. The earliest form found: Joe E. Lewis, quoted by Hedda Hopper in her syndicated column, The Times-Picayune, 31 May 1952, p. 12 (as cited by Quote Investigator). Where it was seen
A misquotationYou only live once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough. Credited to Joe E. Lewis by Ed Sullivan, ‘My Story’, Collier’s, 14 September 1956, p. 19 (as cited by Quote Investigator). Where it was seen
A misquotationYou only live once and the way I live, once is enough. Frank Sinatra at fifty, to James Bacon of the Associated Press (St. Joseph News-Press, 12 December 1965), adding ‘I stole that from Joe E. Lewis’ (as cited by Quote Investigator). Where it was seen

Before and after

The proverb ‘We only live once’An old saying, at first a religious and moral warning that life is not repeated, later an encouragement to boldness; QI finds ‘we live but once’ in the 1700s and the exact ‘You only live once’ in an 1896 translation of Balzac. Source

Mae Westthis quote

Frank Sinatra1965’You only live once and the way I live, once is enough. I stole that from Joe E. Lewis.’

A similar thought

Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (Raskolnikov), 1866: In his feverish self-justification after the murder, Raskolnikov thinks: ‘I only live once, I too want....’ (tr. Constance Garnett).

Cite it

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Attributed to Mae West. No. Joe E. Lewis wrote it, not West. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/you-only-live-once-if-you-do-it-right/ (checked 21 October 2026).

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Checked by people

People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.