Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac quotes it, and an
English politician named Algernon Sydney (d. 1683) is said to
have also proclaimed it in slightly different wording. But
neither man was responsible for originating this idea. Actually,
the ancient Greeks appear to have coined the phrase.
Interestingly, most people assume that the phrase, “God helps
those who help themselves” is from the Bible. It’s not — though
there is an early patristic example of its usage. St. John
Chrysostom (A.D. 349-407), the renowned Archbishop of
Constantinople, expresses this idea in hisHomily on the Epistle
of St. Paul to the Romans. He explains how this principle is
true (though not in the sense that men can “earn” their
salvation), insofar as God grants all human beings sufficient
natural revelation to know He exists and to seek Him diligently.
Speaking to the Catholics of his day, he warns: Let us then
watch our own conduct on all sides, and afford to no one ever so
little handle. For this life present is a race-cours