---
name: "No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood"
subtitle: "Credited to Ruskin and to Douglas Adams; actually Sydney J. Harris"
date: 2026-08-04
link: "https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/08/02/raindrop-flood/"
linkText: "quoteinvestigator.com"
source: "Quote Investigator"
topics: [words-and-humor, history-and-archives]
tags: [quote, attribution, misattribution]
description: "The line is hung on John Ruskin and Douglas Adams; the earliest print appearance is Sydney J. Harris in 1977."
---

The line gets hung on John Ruskin and on Douglas Adams, neither of whom the evidence supports. Its earliest known appearance is Sydney J. Harris's syndicated column of March 2, 1977. Better still is the version that came first: Paul Harvey, January 1964, running the same idea in snow — "In an avalanche, no one snowflake ever feels responsible."
