Last Updated on October 21, 2022 by GMC
©️2020 by Gloria M. Chang
“A penny for your thoughts” is an idiom used to ask what someone is thinking about. It was first coined by St. Thomas More (1478-1535) in his book, Four Last Things:
“As it often happeth that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that, not without some note and reproach of such vagrant mind, other folk suddenly say to them, ‘A penny for your thought.’”
In other words, a person’s face suddenly grows pensive, prompting others to draw out their thoughts in exchange for a penny.