Desiderata

Max Ehrmann of Terre Haute, Indiana started writing the work in 1921,[citation needed] but he did not assign it a title.

The April 5, 1933 issue of Michigan Tradesman magazine published the full, original text on its cover, crediting Ehrmann as its author.

"[2] Psychiatrist Merrill Moore distributed more than 1,000 unattributed copies to his patients and soldiers during World War II.

[1][3] The reverend Frederick Kates distributed about 200 unattributed copies as devotional materials for his congregation at Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore during 1959 or 1960.

[7] Later, it was divided into four or more subparagraphs separated by new lines in DePauw University's Mirage for 1978[8] and in the July/August 1999 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.