Tracing Quotations
Field Marshal Douglas Haig? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Horses were used effectively in warfare for thousands of years. On many occasions horse-mounted cavalry units were decisive on the battlefield. But the development of machine guns, barbed wire, and armored tanks dramatically changed military tactics. The quotation I am interested in has been ascribed to Sir …
Continue reading “Aeroplanes and Tanks Are Only Accessories to the Man and the Horse”
William James? Ralph Barton Perry? Henry James? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I have been working to confirm the source and accuracy of a quotation that is attributed to the famous philosopher and educator William James. Here are three versions: The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. The …
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Pablo Casals? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I am hoping you will be interested in researching the following quote: Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what the world needs most. It is not complicated but takes courage. …
Continue reading “It Takes Courage for a Person to Listen to His Own Goodness and Act On It”
Shake? William Shakespeare? Mulleary? Goethe? Henry Cuyler Bunner? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: While studying English in school I heard the following humorous rhyme about The Bard of Avon: Shakespeare was a dramatist of note who lived by writing things to quote. These words are from a longer poem, but I have not been able to …
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Yogi Berra? Babe Herman? Department Store Sales Woman? Young Student? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation from Yogi Berra was said when he was introduced to a beautiful model after a baseball game. She complimented him, and his fumbling reply was unintentionally funny: She said, “You look so nice and cool in that white …
Continue reading ““You Look Nice and Cool.” “Thanks! You Don’t Look So Hot Yourself.””
Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: While looking through a book of baseball’s greatest quotations I came across this hilarious reply from Yogi Berra to someone who criticized his appearance: So I’m ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face. Some of the sayings credited to Yogi are bogus, but I hope …
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P. T. Barnum? Britney Spears? George Herbert? Jane Russell? W. Clement Stone? Ralph Waldo Emerson? Norman Vincent Peale? Les Brown? John McEnroe? Dear Quote Investigator: There exists a collection of sayings that uses celestial bodies to illustrate advice about setting goals. Here are three examples: If I shoot at the sun, I may hit a …
Martin Luther King? Barack Obama? Theodore Parker? Freemason Commander? Seth Brooks? Jacob Kohn? Dear Quote Investigator: Civil rights champion Martin Luther King, Jr. once delivered a powerful speech with this resonant line: The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I was told that this metaphorical framework has a long …
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Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: One of the cleverest jokes credited to Yogi Berra is meta-logical. Apparently, some people were following Yogi around and expecting him to utter one of his famous Yogi-isms. Finally, in exasperation he said: If I could just make ’em up on the spot, I’d be famous. This response is …
Continue reading “If I Could Just Make Them Up On the Spot, I’d Be Famous”
Winston Churchill? Abba Eban? An Irishman? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: While watching a cable news channel I heard a commentator present a quotation that he credited to Winston Churchill. When I searched the web I found many different versions: (1) Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted …