“God helps those who help themselves”

Origin

The earliest recorded use of the phrase in roughly its modern form is by the English political theorist Algernon Sidney in Discourses Concerning Government, published posthumously in 1698: “God helps those who help themselves.”

The phrase entered American popular usage through Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1736), where it appears as part of a list of maxims. Franklin reused and reshaped material from English sources throughout the Almanack, and by the 19th century the phrase had become a stock proverb in American English.

A precursor idea, though not the wording, can be traced to Aesop’s fable Hercules and the Wagoner, in which Hercules tells a wagoner whose cart is stuck in mud to put his shoulder to the wheel.

Why the misattribution persists

The phrase has the cadence of a proverb and the moral framing of religious teaching, which has led many readers to assume it is biblical. Surveys conducted by the Barna Group and others have repeatedly found that a majority of Americans identify it as a Bible verse.

What the Bible says on this theme

The Bible’s repeated description of God’s help is directed at those who are unable to help themselves — the poor, the needy, the powerless. See the passages above for examples.