The Paradoxical Commandments were written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders. It is often found in slightly altered form.

In 1997, Keith learned that the poem “The Paradoxical Commandments” had hung on the wall of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta, India; and, two decades after writing the original poem, Dr. Keith wrote a book of the same title expanding on the themes of the poem: Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments: Finding Personal Meaning in a Crazy World.