The phrase was coined by Heraclitus Ridens, a poet in the 1600s and then made popular by writer Jonathan Swift in the early 1700s — Promises and pie crusts are made to be broken. A simple internet search gives us the origin but not the motive for such a philosophy. Pie crusts are, indeed, made to hold pie fillings and, if never cut or broken, would make eating a pie a little more difficult. Made properly, a pie crust holds the dish together and serves a practical, aesthetic and tasty ...