What is the best way to track down the origin and grammar of this quote?

The best way to know a man is to walk a thousand miles in his shoes. That way, he's a thousand miles away and has no shoes.

I'm willing to bet it's a Jack Handey quote, as it's rather in that vein of thinking, but the question came up, and since "walk a thousand miles in [his] shoes" is so vague, it's hard to pin it down on [insert-random-search-engine-here].

So what's the best way to look up a quote like this (and bonus points for the source attribution / correct quote on this one)?

Solution 1:

Johnny Carson, "What I Have Learned," 1991: “Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he's upset, he's a mile away and you've got his shoes." Handey did start on SNL in 1991 but I don't know when/if he did this gag, which I've also seen attributed to Billy Connolly. I know about the Carson date because I was his head writer, 1988-92.

Solution 2:

Well, I googled "never judge walk mile shoes mile away have his shoes handey" and got this, which says the quote is

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes." – Jack Handey

My technique was to specify a subset of the quote that I thought had the words that most likely actually appeared in the original quote, along with the suspected correct attribution.