James dean quotes live fast die

James Dean? John Derek? Willard Motley? Irene L. Luce? J. M. O’Connor? Anonymous?

Dear Quote Investigator: James Dean was a charismatic young movie star and an icon of rebellion when he died in a car crash. I have always connected him to this motto:

Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse.

But I was told this saying was used in the 1949 movie “Knock on Any Door” starring John Derek and Humphrey Bogart. Here is another version of the statement:

Live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse.

Would you please trace this fashionable slogan of self-destruction?

Quote Investigator: The first part of the saying has a very long history. In 1855 a newspaper printed a precursor while criticizing the high-living aristocracy. To construct a definition for “aristocracy” the word was split into segments for analysis. Boldface has been added to excerpts:

Racy—fast. They live fast and die fast.

In 1870 an article in “The N